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TIHIIE LIFE 

OF 




EN. WM. T. SHERMAN. 



R 



NEW YORK : 

I>^WLEY, PUBLISHER, 
13 & 15 Park Row. 
J. J. Dyer & Co, 9 Polisher's Agents, Boston, Mass. 



DAWLEY'S-fliUSr-PENNY NOVEL-'.— No. 5 



THE INDIAN CAPTIVE. 

This is a story of a young and beautiful Maiden, a captive of 
Red-Skins, who by a most singular gift of second sight, became tl 
great medicine. She held an unknown power over the Western Tri 
with whom she lived ; notwithstanding, she supposed she was an Inc 
Girl and one of their people, she was a staunch friend of the Texi 
and prevented many Tribes from joining the Mexicans. All who h 
read Speaking Rifle should not fail to read Spirit Eye, the Indian C 
Uve. 



DAWLEY'S TEN-PENNY NOVELS.- No. 1 

THE TWO RIVALS. 

zehrom: the j^'rench of :emile souvestre, 

The very name of French nove! may conjure up ideas equally alarming with 
of French cookery. Whether we shall be regaled with " fillet of a fenhy-snake, 
stead of fillet of sole ; whether an oyster-fed cat can be ingeniously made to repri 
rabbit ; or, a poodle nourished on sponge-cake transformed into the similitu 
pheasant. Admitting that much French literature is, like sausage-rolls, light 
disappointing ; granting that Dumas is wild, Paul de Kock licentious, and Sn 
often prolific of horrors — it by no'means follow that the same soil which sends f 
bristle and brier, may not breed celandine and daisy. 

DAWLBY'S TEN-PENNY NOVELS.— No. 2. 

DARE-DEVIL DICK 

This is a most singular story of a young man who was cursed by the power of s 
having had an immense fortune placed to his credit in a Bank, by a mysterious i 
vidual unknown to him; after which he became associated with gamblers and 
men, by whom he became involved in a duel ; was wounded ; became a wanderer ; 
impressed into the British Navy, where his career commences as Dare-Devil Drc 
dauntless sailor, and one of the most daring, we might say reckless fighting men in 
British Navy, through whose means the " Santissima," a Spanish corvette was ■ 
tared, loaded with an amount of doubloons, mordores, and pieces of Eight that wc 
be astonishing even to people of our own day. 



DAWLEY'S TEN-PENNY NOVELS.— No. 3- 

THE FREEBOOTER'S PRIZE. 

The above tale is one of the most truthful and exciting which has ever char 
erized the adventures of any Past Middy of the British navy. The adventurer leav 
home in comparative poverty ; his enlistment upon a war vessel ; his desertion ; jt 
ing his fortune upon the deck of a pirate ; his re-desertion : his next appearance uj 
a merchantman; the merchantman's fight with the pirate ; the Quaker Captain; 
Captain de juerre ; his tremendous fighting ; the chase ; final capture of the pirate, i 
marriage of the hero, concludes one of the most daring tales that has ever been 
corded upon paper, and which excites the admiration of all. 

Price, 10 Cts. each, Mailed Postpaid on receipt of Price 
T. R. DAW LEY, Publisher, 13 & 15 Park Row, N. 



THE LIFE 



OF 



WM. T. SHERMAN, 



BY 



■*r 



R,. DAWL^EY. 






. IT- 



NEW YOEK: 

T. R. DAWLEY, PUBLISHER, 

Nos, 13 and 15 Park Bow. 



w 1864. 



l&t 



Jfr&y /3f/£63 



Agents wanted to sell Pawley's Publications everywhere. Show- 
bills and Circulars forwarded free of charge — and a very liberal 
discount allowed on the Books. 






ENTERED ACCORDING TO ACT OF CONGRESS, IN THE YEAR 1864, BY 

IN THE CLERK'S OFFICE OF THE DISTRICT COURT OF THE UNITED STATES, 
FOR THE SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK. 



kill 



) v 



T. P. Dawley, Steam Book, Job and Newspaper Printer, Electro- 
typer, Stereotyper and Publisher, 13 and 15 Park Row. 



INTRODUCTION. 



General Grant having expressed himself strongly in 
favor of General Sherman, and having officially given 
token of the high appreciation with which he has viewed 
the military career of that officer, but little can be said in 
the way of introduction to this sketch of his life. When 
all the North, from the President to the peasant, were 
looking upon General Sherman as a madman, Grant saw 
in him an officer of merit, and one that could not help 
proving himself to be in time a great General. It is said 
that genius in spite of all obstacles must one day rise if 
the slightest opportunity be given it ; therefore, when it is 
considered that General Sherman began his career in the 
war of the rebellion and fought for over two years with 
the opposition of nearly every one North and South, and 
with the denunciations of the Press of the country ; it is 
plain that the possession of a great genius only could have 
enabled him to rise to the high position which he has ob- 
tained in the military service of his native land. 

Without further remark the Author places this brief 
history of the " Hero of the Southwest " before the Amer- 
ican public. 

T. R. D. 

New York, 1864. 



THE LIFE 

OF 



WM. TECUMSEH SHERMAN. 



CHAPTER I. 

Sherman's early days. 



His birthplace — His parents and relations — Where he received his early 
education— His boyhood's sweetheart — Incidents, #*c. 

Major General William Tecumseh Sherman of the regu- 
lar army of the United States was born on Tuesday, the 
eighth day of February, 1820. He first saw the light in 
Lancaster, Ohio, and of that state he has ever since re- 
tained his citizenship. 

The " hero of the Southwest " is the son of the late 
Hon. Charles R. Sherman, Judge of the Supreme Court of 
the State of Ohio; and brother of the Hon. John Sher- 
man, United States Senator from Ohio, and chairman of 
the Senatorial standing committee on Agriculture. 

The father of General Sherman died when he was but 
nine years old, and the son had received a moderately 
good education up to the time of his death, when that 
event occurred he was somewhat thrown upon his own re- 
sources in order to continue his studies. Judge Sherman, 
had during his lifetime secured a friend in the Hon. 
Thomas Ewing, and that gentleman, taking a fancy to 
young William, had him brought up in his own family. 



18 THE LIFE OP 

The Hon. Thomas Ewing then devoted himself to the edu- 
cation of his } T oung protegee, and during the remainder of 
his boyhood days, young Sherman is said to have passed a 
very happy time. 

His kind protector — for so Mr. Ewing may justly be 
called — had a little daughter, whom young Sherman used 
to delight in calling his sweetheart without ever having 
any idea that the future might, as it did, make that little 
lady his wife. 

Young Sherman betrayed while very young rather a 
pugnacious disposition, which added to a somewhat hasty 
temper brought him continually into quarrels with the boys 
who lived in his vicinity. Sherman, however, possessed a 
great amount of decided pluck, and he never hesitated to 
fight boys much larger and far heavier than himself. He 
also possessed the merit of never giving in until he found 
himself completely beaten. 

It is stated that one of young Sherman's boyhood quar- 
rels aroso about the qualities of General Andrew Jack- 
son as a soldier and a statesman. The opponent contend- 
ed that Jackson, then President, had neither brains nor 
determination enough to endeavor to suppress the attempt 
of South Carolina to breed a revolution ; and Sherman as- 
serted that he not only could, but would do it if necessary. 
This led to some personal assertions and accusations on 
both sides until the opponent told Sherman that he was a 
iar and a fool. The hot blood of the boy soon rose to 
ing heat, and in a very short time the two were en- 
iti a pretty serious contest. The boy opposed to 
^as somewhat larger, much older, and far stronger 
id at first sight it appeared evident that the 



WILLIAM TECUMSEH SHERMAN. 19 

former by mere brute force alone must soon conquer Lis 
adversary. 

Notwithstanding this disparity of size and age, Sherman 
stood up to his antagonist with great boldness. During 
the contest the smaller boy manoeuvred about from left to 
right with such rapidity and skill, that the larger had to 
move very quickly to escape some rather serious blows 
about the ribs. At last, having made a number of these 
manoeuvres, Sherman rushed without wavering, straight 
forward upon his adversary, taking him quite by surprise, 
and by a dexterous blow in the stomach, " doubled him up." 
While in this condition he administered several sharp 
blows about the larger boy's head and face, that when he 
resumed the upright position he gave evidence of a sad 
beating. 

The larger boy then made a rush at Sherman, but the 
latter stepping on one side, and putting out his foot, threw 
his antagonist with great force to the ground. Sherman 
then took a seat on his prostrate body, and made his ad- 
versary own he was beaten, and that Andrew Jackson was 
a great man, before he would allow him to get up. 

The honorable gentleman in whose family the boy was 
staying, having noticed Sherman's tactics during the light, 
thought he would be likely to make a good soldier ; and 
when he gave evidence of a desire to become a student of 
the military art, he rather more encouraged than opposed 
it. 

Long before he began his military studies at West Point 
young Sherman exhibited a taste for drawing and engi- 
neering, as well as other things appertaining to the mili- 
tary art. 



20 THE LIFE OP 



CHAPTER II. 

SHERMAN AT WEST POINT. 

Sherman's entry into West Point — What he learned at that institution—' 
His classmates — At the Academy with General Grant — Incidents, 8fc. 

Young Sherman was just turned sixteen years of age, 
when he was, during 1833, admitted into the Military 
Academy of the United States at West Point as a cadet, 
appointed from the State of Ohio. 

At the time Sherman entered West Point, Colonel Rene 
E. De Russy was Commandant of Cadets and Superintend- 
ent of the Academy ; but after he had been at the institu- 
tion about two years, Colonel Delafield, since Chief En- 
gineer of the United States Army, assumed the principal 
command thereof. 

When Cadet Sherman entered the Military School, the 
following officers of the rebellion were in the first Class : 
General H. W. Benham, U. S. Volunteers ; General 
Braxton Bragg, Generai-in-chief of the Rebel Army ; 
General W. W. Mackall of the Rebel Army ; General 
Scammon, U. S. Volunteers ; General Lewis G. Arnold, 
U. S. Volunteers; General Israel Vodges, U. S. Volun- 
teers ; General Thomas Williams of Vicksburg Canal fame ; 
Adjutant-General Townsend, U. S. Army ; General Jubal 
A. Early, of the Rebel Army, and of Shenandoah Valley 
fame, if defeat can bo famous ; General W. H. French, 
U. S. Volunteers; General Sedgwick, U. S. Volunteers, 
fell at Spottsylvania ; General Pemberton, of the 
Rebel t ny, and of Vicksburg fame ; General Joe 
Q Volunteers ; General W. H. T. Walker, of 
the Rebel Ar . , and others. 



WILLIAM TECUMSEH SHERMAN. 21 

la the second class, at that time were General P. G. T. 
Beauregard, of the Rebel Army ; General W. T. Barry, 
Chief of Artillery, Sherman's Army : General McDowell, 
U. S. Army, and of Bull Run fame ; General W. J. 
Hardee, of the Rebel Army, the author of a work on 
Tactics ; General R. S. Granger, U. S. Volunteers ; 
General H. II. Sibley, of the rebel Army ; General Andrew 
Jackson Smith, U. S. Volunteers, and of Mississippi River 
fame ; and others. 

In the third class, were General I. I. Stevens, 
U. S. Volunteers, and who fell at Chantilly, September, 
1862; General H. W. Halleck, formerly Gencral-in-chiof 
of the U. S. Army, and at the time of writing, Chief of 
Staff to the President; General J. B. Ricketts, U. S. Vol- 
unteers, and who fell in the Shenandoah Valley, October, 
1864; General Ord, U. S. Volunteers; General H. J. 
Hunt, Chief of Artillery, under General McClcllan, &c. ; 
General E. Paine, U. S. Volunteers ; General Canby, 
U. S. Volunteers, and of Western Mississippi fame ; and 
others. 

Cadet Sherman entered the fourth class, and among his 
companions were General Stewart Van Vliet, U. S. Vol- 
unteers ; General J. P. McCown, of tbe Rebel Army ; 
General G. H. Thomas, U. S. Army, and of Chickamagua 
fame ; General Ewell, of the Rebel Army ; General W. 
Hays, U. & Volunteers ; General Bushrod R. Johnston, 
of the Rebel Army ; and others. 

During -the first year of his cadetship, the studies of 
young Sherman consisted of Mathematics ; English Gram- 
mar, including etymological and rhetorical exercises, com- 
position and declamation ; Geography of the United 
States ; French, &c. He was also taught the use of small 



22 THE LIFE OP 

arms, and the drill of an infantry soldier ; and during the 
summer months, performed the part of a private of the in- 
fantry battalion, in the military camp of the Academy. 

During the summer months oi* 1837, Cadet Sherman 
advanced one grade in the Academy, and was transferred 
to the third class in which he began the study of the higher 
Mathematics under Lieutenant A. E. Church, Professor, 
and Lieutenant W. W. S. Bliss, Assistant Professor ; the 
French language, under M. Claudius Berard, First Teacher 
of the language, and Julian Molinard, Second Teacher ; 
and Drawing under Robert W. Weir, Teacher of the art. 
He also began to drill in the preliminary duties of a pri- 
vate of cavalry under Lieutenant Miner Knowlton, and 
spent sixteen weeks in the school of horsemanship or rid- 
ing school of the Academy. He studied the sword exer- 
cise under M. Ferdinand Duparc, then Sword Master of 
the Academy. He also continued to study infantry tac- 
tics, and while serving with the infantry battalion, during 
the classical year, 1837-8, he obtained the promotion to 
corporal of cadets. 

On the 3oth day of June 1838, he passed his examination 

with some amount of credit and entered into the second 

class. The studies of Sherman increased as he advanced 

in the institution, and this year, viz : from July 1st, 1838, 

to June 30th, 1839, he was very busily employed. From 

September, 1838, to June, 1839, he had to cultivate his 

mind in the study of Natural and Experimental Philosophy, 

under Professor W. PI. C. Bartleit, and Assistant Profes- 

B \lvord ; Chemistry under Professor J. W. Bailey, 

lag under the same teacher, as in the third class. 

3 train his body and develop his frame by 

the school of gymnasium, and also to re- 



WILLIAM TECUM3EH SHERMAN. 23 

ceive practical instruction in the more difficult and dangerous 
branches of horsemanship, such as being able to keep 
his seat when his horse became restive from the effect of a 
sudden report of artillery or musketry, and other similar 
exercises. While encamped during the summer months, 
Cadet Sherman was well drilled in infantry and artillery 
tactics, and while away with the battalion acted as com- 
pany serjeant. 

During the summer of 1839, Cadet Sherman passed into 
the first class. During this same summer General Grant, 
now Lieutenant- General of the United States Armies, en- 
tered West Point as a cadet, and it was during this year 
that Sherman made his acquaintance. In this connection 
it may be interesting to record the names of prominent 
officers of the rebellion who entered West Point during 
the interval that Sherman was studying at the Academy. 

During 1837, the following officers entered the institu- 
tion: Generals H. G. Wright, of the U. S. Volunteers; 
A. W. Whipple, of the U. S. Volunteers ; Major T. J. 
Rodman, of 20-inch ordnance fame ; Generals A. P. 
Howe, U. S. Volunteers ; N. Lyon, U. S. Volunteers, and 
who was killed at Wilson's Creek; Lieut.-Colonel Garesche, 
who was killed while chief of staff to General Roseerans 
at Stone River, December, 1862; Generals S. S. Ander- 
son, and Samuel Jones, both of the Rebel Army; J. M. 
Plummer, U. S. Volunteers, who died in Missouri, in 1862 ; 
J. M. Brannan, U. S. Volunteers; S. Hamilton, U. S. 
Volunteers ; James Totten, U. S. Volunteers ; John F. Rey- 
nolds, U. S. Volunteers, and who was killed at Gettys- 
burg, July 1st, 1863; R. Garnett, of the Rebel Army; 
Don Carlos Buell, U. S. Volunteers, since resigned the 
service ; A. Sully, U. S. Volunteers, and of Indian War 



24 THE LIFE OP 

fame of 1863-4 ; I. B. Richardson, U. S. Volunteers, and 
who died of wounds received at Antietam, in 1862; 
W. T. H. Brooks, U. S. Volunteers ; A. Buford, of the 
Rebel Army ; and others. 

During 1838, Generals John Newton, U. S. Volunteers; 
W. S. Rosecrans, U. S. Army; G. W. Smith, of the Rebel 
Army ; Mansfield Lovell, of the Rebel Army ; John Pope, 
of the U. S. Army , Joseph Stewart, of the Rebel Army ; 
Seth Williams, Assistant Adjutant General of the Army 
of Potomac; Abner Doubleday, of U. S. Volunteers; 
D. H. Hill, of the Rebel Army; N. J. T. Dana, U. S. 
Volunteers ; A. T. M. Rust, of the Rebel Army ; George 
Sykes, of the U. S. Volunteers ; L. McLaws, of the 
Rebel Army; S. P. Hayman, U. S. Volunteers; Earl 
Van Dorn, of the Rebel Army; James Longstreet, of the 
Rebel Army ; and others. 

During 1839, Generals W. B. Franklin, U. S. Vol- 
unteers; Joseph J. Reynolds; U. S. Volunteers, Samuel 
G. French, of the Rebel Army; C. C. Augur, of the 
U. S. Volunteers ; L. B. Wood, of the Rebel Army ; 
U. S. Grant, U. S. Army; Chas. S. Hamilton, U. S. 
Volunteers ; F. Steele, U. S. Volunteers, and of Arkan- 
sas fame : H. M. Judah, U. S. Volunteers, and others. 

When entering the first class, the cadet generally is 
selected as one of the Commissioned officers of the batta- 
lion, and either proves capable or incapable ot command- 
ing his fellow-men. His studies arc also heavier. From 
July 1st, to September 1st, 1839, Cadet Sherman received 
practical lessons in the science of civil and military en- 
gineerings under Professor Mahaw, and his assistants, and 
during the fall and winter months entered into the theo- 
retical part of that study. In this branch, Cadet Sherman 



WILLIAM TECUMSEH SHERMAN. 25 

carried high honors. His horsemanship was also carefully 
practiced until he was considered perfect. His other 
studies consisted of Ethics, Geography and History, under 
the Rev. Jasper Adams ; Mineralogy and Geology under 
Professor Bailey ; and constitutional, international and 
military law under proper tutors. His more warlike in- 
struction consisted of gunnery, ordnance, and cavalry tac- 
tics, and in these Sherman excelled. 

On the 30th of June, 1840, Cadet Sherman graduated, 
sixth in his class, which consisted of forty-two members. 
By his position in his class he was declared to have excel- 
ed in the following studies : Fortification, Military Science 
and Art, Law and Literature, Mineralogy and Geology, 
Ordnance and Science of Gunnery, Infantry Tactics, Artil- 
lery Tactics, Cavalry Tactics, Equitation, Civil Engineer- 
ing, Ethics, Literature, Logic, Electricity and Chemistry, 
Drawing, Natural and Experimental Philosophy, Mathema- 
tics, Rhetoric, History, Geography, &c. He was also sup- 
posed to have a thorough practical knowledge in the use 
of the musket, fieldpiece, light and heavy artillery, mortars, 
siege and sea-coast guns, small sword, sabre and bayonet. 
He was also declared proficient in the construction of field 
works and in the fabrication of munitions and material of 
war. 

Such were the qualifications of Cadet Sherman when he 
graduated in 1840. 



26 THE LIFE OP 



CHAPTER III. 

SHERMAN IN THE REGULAR ARMY. 

Enters the army— Second Lieutenant— First Lieutenant — Florida— In 
California during Mexic.un War — Brevet— Marriage — Captain — Commis- 
sar// (i/'subsistcnce — Resignation, §•<!. 

Cn Wednesday, July 1st, 18-10, Cadet Sherman com- 
menced his career as a soldier and on that day entered the 
regular service of the United States. He was appointed 
to the United States Army as a Second Lieutenant of ar- 
tillery, and entered the Third Regiment without passing 
through the usual probation of a brevet. 

The regiment to which young Sherman was attached 
was considered one of the best of that arm in the service 
and sucli officers as Generals Thomas, Van Yliet, J. F. 
Reynolds, Orel, A. P. Stewart, Doubleday, S. G. French, 
Jubal Early, Andrews and others, began in it their mili- 
tary career. 

The talents of Lieutenant Sherman did not allow him 
long to remain in the lower ranks, and on the 30th of 
November, 1841, less than seventeen months after he en- 
tered the regiment, he was promoted to the rank of First 
Lieutenant. 

It was at about this time that the Indian troubles in 
Florida were at their height, and the young Lieutenant 
and his company were engaged in suppressing these hos- 
tilities. In this campaign Sherman firrst displayed that 
amount of courage which Jias since so distinguished him 
during the war or" the rebellion. 

It was while Sherman was serving in Florida that he 
met with an adventure with the famous Billy Bowlegs, the 



WILLIAM TECUMSEH SHERMAN. 27 

Indian chief. The semi-civilized aboriginec had sworn 
vengeance upon any of the American soldiers that he 
could get in his power, and Sherman's command happened 
to fall into such a position that but lor his strategical skill 
and rapid marching of his men, must have resulted disas- 
trously. 

During 1841, Lieutenant Sherman was ordered to 
Fort Moultrie, Charleston harbor, South Carolina, and re- 
mained at that post for some time, nothing important oc- 
curring during the interval. 

Lieutenant Sherman did not take any very prominent part 
in the Mexican War — his scene of active duty lying in 
another field. During the year 1845 he was ordered to 
California, where he was selected and assigned to the po- 
sition of an acting assistant adjutant general. He per- 
formed the duties of that office in the Tenth Military dis- 
trict of the United States during the latter portion of the 
Mexican war, entering upon the office during the year 
1847. 

As adjutant general, Sherman was a great stickler for 
military etiquette, and required from every one a due ob- 
servance of all the rules and regulations of the service. 
Sometimes he would carry this to extremes as will be seen 
by the following anecdote, which is related by one of the 
officers of the war of the rebellion, who served under 
him in California in a subordinate position : 

The subordinate had gathered some information about 
the enemy that he thought would be of value, and being 
desirous to communicate it quietly to Sherman, he entered 
his office for that purpose. After saluting he advanced to 
communicate the intelligence in a whisper. 

" Stand back, sir," said Sherman. 



28 THE LIFE OP 

" But I have important information," said the subordin- 
ate, still attempting to approach nearer. 

" Stand back, sir," replied Sherman, in a peremptory 
tone, " stand back, sir. Now for your information. Speak 
out. 

" It might be dangerous — " 

"I know nothing about danger, sir. Speak out or leave 
my presence." 

In spite, therefore, of the subordinate's reluctance, he 
was compelled to give his information in such a tone of 
voice that could be heard ; and after Sherman had made a 
note of the matter he thus addressed him : 

" In future when you have any communication to make 
to me, you will know how to address me. I allow no one 
in your position to attempt any familiar whispering to me 
on matters appertaining to the business of the service. 
You will remember that, and never again attempt such a 
liberty. You can go." 

The last words were uttered in such a tone that would 
admit of no remark on the part of the subordinate, and he 
at once left. 

Notwithstanding this austerity of manner Sherman was 
much liked by his men. He made the soldiers respect 
themselves, by demanding proper respect from them on all 
official matters. 

Lieutenant Sherman so administered the affairs of his 
district that Congress during March 1851, conferred upon 
him a brevet of captain of the regular army, to date from 
May 30th, 1848, "for meritorious services in California 
during the war with Mexico." 

During the year 1850, when thirty years of age, Sher- 
man entered into matrimonial partnership with his boy- 



WILLIAM TECUMSEH SHERMAN. 29 

hood's sweetheart — the daughter of the Hon. Mr. Evvinsr. 
With that lady he is said to have lived very happily, and 
has a very interesting family. 

Sherman was during the same year appointed a commis- 
sary of subsistence, with the rank of captain, and was as- 
signed to the staff of the commaudcr of the Department of 
the West. He then had his headquarters at St. Louis. 
He was subsequently transferred to the military post at 
New Orleans, where he become acquainted with many of 
the personages who have taken so prominent a position in 
the vain endeavor to destroy the government of the United 
States 

The country being once more at peace with all the 
world, and Sherman fancying he could do better in civil 
pursuits than by remaining in the service, he on the 6th 
day of September, 1853, resigned his position in the army 
and removed into California. 

It must not be supposed that having left the military 
service, he did not continue to watch it with interest. He 
knew that a gigantic struggle would one day come, and he 
prepared himself, during his leisure, to meet it when it 
broke out, no matter whether the issue was either of a do- 
mestic or foreign character. The subsequent career of 
the General has proved that the time o£ the citizen was 
not idly spent. 



30 THE LIFE OF 



CHAPTER IV. 

SHERMAN AS A CITIZEN. 

Banker — President of Military Academy of Louisiana— The Secession 
troubles — Resisting the rebel influences — Passage of the ordinance of 
secession — Resignation of the Presidency — lleturii North, Sfc. 

Sherman as soon as he resigned his connection with the 
Regular Army removed, as before stated, to California. 
Taking up his residence in the city of San Francisco, he 
became acquainted with certain monetary men, who being 
made aware of the financial abilities of the retired officer, 
requested him to take a position at the head of the im- 
portant banking house of Lucas, Turner & Co., of that 
city. 

For four years Sherman occupied this position, giving 
great satisfaction to those persons with whom he was 
brought in business connection, as also to the directors of 
the institution. 

Notwithstanding the fact that he was no longer attached 
to the military service of the country, he could not help 
feeling an interest in its prosperity ; and he connected 
himself with the primitive military organizations of the 
State, taking a very active part in the suppression of the 
lawless vagabonds who at one time made San Francisco a 
hell upon earth. r 

During the year 1857, Mr. Sherman became acquainted 
with certain important personages, from the State of Louis- 
iana, who having observed his military capacity, thought it 
would be a very good plan to secure his services for the 
instruction of the youth of that vicinity in the knowledge 
of arms. The arguments used by the Southerners were 



WILLIAM TECUMSEH SHERMAN. 31 

so plausible — such as, to enable them to suppress an up- 
rising of the slaves ; to fit them for the resistance of a 
foreign enemy ; to prepare the citizens to act as soldiers 
in the rooting out of the savage Indian races of the back 
part of the territory ; to make the basis of an organiza- 
tion for the extension of the United States through 
Mexico, &c. — that Sherman willingly accepted the position 
, without suspicion of any treasonable object in the move- 
ment. 

Mr. Sherman was therefore appointed the President of 
the Military Academy of the State of Louisiana during 
the year 185$. Under his tuition some of the principal 
officers of the so-called Louisiana Confederate Volunteers 
received their military education, which doubtless accounts 
for the fact that many of them rose to some distinction in 
the military service during the war of the rebellion. 

The excitement of the Presidential election of 18G0 
soon betrayed to Mr. Sherman the feelings which ani- 
mated the South ; and the Southern disorganizes tried 
their utmost to induce him to join the cause of the Seces- 
sionists. 

On one occasion a party of " fire-eaters," as they were 
termed, called on Mr. Sherman to sound him on the sub- 
ject of joining the Southern States in the event of their 
separating themselves from the Union. 

« Gentlemen," said Sherman, " while I am in the South 
I shall do nothing and say nothing in opposition to the 
Southern interests ; but I will never join in any move- 
ment that may lead to an armed resistance to the authority 
of the United States. I have fought under the ' Stars 
and Stripes ' too long to easily raise my hand to cause its 
downfall, . . 



32 THE LIFE OP 

" Mr. Sherman," said one of the renegades, " We have 
no intention to go to war with the United States. Wo 
have so divided the North that if the Abolitionists should 
even elect the next President we can so cripple his power 
that he can do nothing to resist a secession of the Gulf 
States and the establishment of a separate Government." 

w If you suppose, gentlemen," said Sherman, " that the 
North will allow any portion of this glorious Union to be 
severed from the remainder, you will find yourselves mis- 
taken. I tell you it will lead to war, and a cruel war ; 
but the Union must be kept intact." 

" But our slaves ?" 

" When it is a question of preserving the Unity ot the 
Country, slavery and all other abstract principles will 
have to succumb. Your very supporters in the North will 
turn against you, and be ready to fly to arms to preserve 
the honor of their flag, and the integrity of the Union. 
Gentlemen, you have my answer." 

As the fire-eaters left the place where they had held 
the consultation with Mr. Sherman, one said to another: 

" I do not like to trust that man. I do not believe he 
is true to the cause of the South. 

" There," remarked the other, " I think you are mis- 
taken. He speaks plainly and fearlessly, which shows he 
is not afraid of us. I would rather trust an open-spoken 
man like that, than all the oily, sneaking fellows whose 
remarks arc fair to our face, yet who, for a few dollars, 
would betray our very wives to our enemies. When the 
time comes, and he sees we are likely to separate from the 
North in reality, he will readily join us. Besides," con- 
tinued the speaker, " he is too good an officer for us to 
part with, if we can only retain him with ub." 



WILLIAM TECUMSEH SHERMAN. 33 

From the foregoing conversation, and from a letter writ- 
ten to the Governor of the State of Louisiana, on Jan- 
uary 18th, 1861, it will be seen that Sherman's feelings 
were with the South, although not with the rebellion ; and 
that he was willing to protect the Southern interest?, but 
would not join any rebellious movement against the United 
States. " If," said he, " Louisiana withdraws from the 
Federal Union, I prefer to maintain my allegiance to the 
old Constitution, as long as a fragment of it survives, and 
my longer stay in Louisiana would be wrong in every 
sense of the word." 

On the 26th of January, 1861, the Convention of the 
State of Louisiana passed the Ordinance of Secession. 
Sherman speedily saw that the extreme Southern States 
was no place for him to remain in, while he held the feel- 
ings he did ; he therefore, tendered to the State of Louis- 
iana his resignation of the Presidency of the Military In- 
stitute, and made his way North, via the Mississippi River, 
taking up his residence at St. Louis, Mo. 



CHAPTER V. 



REAPPOINTED TO THE ARMY. 

Colonel of the Regular Army — Army of Virginia— Appointed Com' 
mander of a Brigade — Bull Run — Brigadier General of Volunteers — As- 
signed to Kentuchii — Commander of the Department of the Cumberland — 
Opinion regarding the strength of the Rebellion — Reported insane — Relieved 
and ordered into Missouri — Sedalia, frc. 

For a brief space of time after Mr. Sherman had re- 
moved to St. Louis he remained in comparative quiet ; but 
shortly before the attack on Fort Sumter he repaired to 
Washington to call upon the President of the United 



34 THE LIFE OP 

States and to offer his services to the Government. He 
was surprised there to find the apparent ignorance of the 
government officials as to the actual condition of the South, 
and the danger which threatened the national existence. 
To his energetic appeals the President replied that he 
hoped to dispense with a military force. Sherman knew 
better, but he had received his answer and did not press 
his suit. The President was far from being harsh or 
hasty in urging on hostilities- His fault was too much 
forbearance — too much hope of conciliation and peace. 
Even Secretary Seward, with all his knowledge of their 
violent leaders in the Senate, and afterward of the strength 
of their organization, declared repeatedly that ninety 
days would end the conflict, until the battle of Bull Run 
put an end to the delusion. 

The President, after the fall of Sumter, called for three 
months volunteers, and about the same time he by virtue 
of an old act of Congress relating to the army of the 
United States, issued a proclamation calling for an in- 
crease of the Regular Army from nineteen to thirty regi- 
ments. Under this call the retired Captain was during 
June 18G1 appointed the Colonel of the Thirteenth Regi- 
ment of United States Infantry — one of the new regiments 
— with a commission dating from May 14th, 1SG1. 

To resist the advance of the armed forces of the seces- 
sionists — a body of which having been raised in Virginia 
with the intention of invading or threatening the National 
Capitol — General Scott organized the « Army of Vir- 
ginia, 5 ' which was composed of five divisions, made up of 
regular troops and the volunteer uniformed militia of the 
different states. Each division was composed of about 
three brigades; and of the thrid brigade of General Daniel 



WILLIAM TECUMSEH SHERMAN. 35 

Tyler's division, the first division of that army, Colonel 
Sherman was appointed the commander. The main army 
was placed under the leadership of Gen. Arvin McDowell, 
and, about the middle of July 18(51, began to advance 
upon the rebel position at Manasses. 

A rcconoissance took place on July 18th; but in thi3 
movement Colonel Sherman did not participate. On the 
21st, however, Colonel Sherman's brigade took a very 
active part in the engagement at Stone Bridge, over Bull 
Run, and under his leadership was advancing well over 
the battle field of Bull Run, or Manasses, when the fatal 
panic broke out which turned the morning of success into 
an afternoon of disaster and rout. It however was ac- 
knowledged by the senior commander that Colonel Sher- 
man's conduct did much to save the army. 

When the army returned to the defences of Washing- 
ton Colonel Sherman expressed himself very strongly and 
very indignantly with regard to the disgraceful conduct of 
the militia troops — especially the regimental officers under 
his command. His remarks were certainly severe, and the 
militia, who at that time considered themselves equal to 
any troops in the world, became very much annoyed, and 
spread many disparaging reports concerning the skill of 
the brigade commander. 

At this time the press of the North was open to the cor- 
respondence of every private of the army, and the natural 
consequence was that Colonel Sherman's military capacity 
was canvassed and commented upon by a number of per- 
sons who had no power to judge, even if they had been 
made fully acquainted with all the facts of the campaign 

The subsequent reorganization of the army, and the en- 
largement of the force raised for the suppression of thcr e- 



30 THE LIFE OF 

bellion, und erthe acts of the extra session of Congress 
approved July 22d and July 25th, 1861. led to a complete 
change in the rank and position of commanding officers o. 
the troops in the United States service. A number o; 
general officers were appointed by the President and con- 
firmed by the Senate, and among others Colonel Sherman 
was appointed, at the urgent request of the Ohio delegation 
a Brigadier General of volunteers ; his name being placed 
sixth on the lineal roll of Brigadier Generals, and his com- 
mission dating from May 17th, 1861. At this time he 
even outranked General Grant by reason of priority ; but 
the animosity raised against him by the Press prevented 
him, lor some time, from displaying those fine talente 
which have since rendered him so conspicuous in the mili- 
tary history of the country. 

General Sherman during the latter part of July 1861 
was selected to assist in retaining Kentucky within the 
Union, and was assigned to act as second in command tc 
General Ilobart Anderson, then Commander of the De- 
partment of the Cumberland — which at that time embraced 
the states of Kentucky and Tennessee — with headquarters 
in the field. For a brief period these officers acted in uni- 
son ; but the failing health of General Anderson compelled 
him to relinquish active service, and on October 8th, 1861, 
General Sherman assumed the chief command of the De- 
partment. 

The sad ending of the campaign in Missouri during 1861 
led to an investigation of the military affairs in the West ; 
and the Adjutant General of the United States army 
visited the different departments to ascertain the opin- 
ions of the various commanders as to the probable re- 
sult of the efforts being made by the United States Gov- 



WILLIAM TECUMSEH SHERMAN. 37 

ernment for the suppression of the rebellion, as well as to 
consider the best means to be adopted to re-open the Mis- 
sissippi river to the commerce of the world. On this latter 
question there was a great diversity of opinion manifested 
by the different generals, and General Sherman asserted 
that if the United States authorities intended to open that 
highway it would require the assignment of at least two 
hundred thousand men to make any impression on the 
rebel forces in Tennessee and Mississippi. 

It having been contended by the Cabinet officials that 
the rebellion could be suppressed in ninety days, such a 
proposition as General Sherman's was deemed preposter- 
ous, and the proposer was declared insane The corres- 
pondents of the press, who had been excluded from his 
camp, revived the statements of the routed troops froom 
Bull Run, and called for the removal of " such a maniac " 
from command. [The reason why the correspondents were 
excluded from the camps was in consequence of their pub- 
lication of army movements long before they should have 
been known.] 

But time has since proved that General Sherman 
knew what he was saying when he made the assertion 
above alluded to, as it has certainly required a far larger 
number than two hundred thousand men to re-open that 
water course to the Gulf. 

The policy which directed military matters in the fall of 
1861, has always been a cause of surprise, especially that 
part which related to the Western campaigns. 

Sherman was then in command in Kentucky, stationed 
at Louisville, with less than fifteen thousand men under his 
control, and with seven important points to guard ; and he 
was confronted by Buckner and Johnson with upward of 



38 TEE LIFE OF 

seventy-five thousand men. He telegraphed to General 
McClellan, explaining his situation, and his utter inability 
to defend the posts in question with his limited means, and 
received the following reply— not a hint at re-enforce- 
ments, but simply this : 

Washington, Nov. 5, 1861. — 10 p. m. 

To Brig-Gen. W. T. S Herman, Louisville : How near 
to Louisville is Buckner ? Is he moving on Louisville? 
Has he crossed Green River ? Is the bridge over Green 
River repaired ? Can he cross Green River in the face 
of McCook ? If he was on the North side of Green 
River, how long could McCook hold him out of Louis- 
ville, holding the railroad, with power to destroy it, inch 
by inch ? How many guns has McCook ? 

G. B. McClellan, Maj-Gen. 

The dispatch, in effect, gave up Kentucky, and all the 
small forces there, their arms and munitions of war. It 
contemplated that McCook, with his five thousand men, 
should defend the passage of Green River against a furce 
of ten to one ; that he should defend the railroad and de- 
stroy it, inch by inch, in the presence of such an over- 
whelming force ; and when the last inch was captured, 
nothing remained but to surrender the little army under 
his command, and also to surrender Louisville, making the 
Ohio river the boundary. 

The persistency with which Sherman urged upon the 
War department the necessity of largely reinforcing the 
troops in the West, preparatory to a forward movement, 
called forth some rather strong censures from Washington ; 
therefore, disheartened by the neglect with which his ad- 
vice was treated, and fully convinced of the inutility of an 
advance without sufficient forces for the purpose, he asked 
to be relieved from the command of the Department and 



WILLIAM TECUMSEH SHERMAN. 39 

assigned to a less responsible position. His request was at 
once complied with, and his department was, on the 10th 
of November, 1861, incorporated with the Department of 
the Ohio. 

General Sherman was next ordered to report to Gen- 
eral Halleck, the new commander of the Department of 
the West, and by him was assigned to a command in the 
extreme west of the State of Missouri, with his headquar- 
ters at Seel alia. He was, however, shortly after trans- 
ferred to Benton Barracks, near St. Louis y where he was 
placed in command of a Camp of Instruction. He there- 
fore became engaged during the winter of 1861-2, in 
preparing troops for an active campaign in the following 
spring ; and the manner with which the men of the North- 
west have since fought, has given a good and lasting evi- 
dence of the value of the lessons they received, at the 
hands of General Sherman, at the commencement of the 
war in the Mississippi River region of territory. 



CHAPTER VI. 

GENERAL SHERMAN IN THE FIELD. 

Ordered into active field service — Participation in the West Tennessee 
Campaign under General Grant — Shiloh — Major-General of Volunteers — 
GranVs approval of him—Corinth, Sfc. 

General Halleck, as soon as active operations had been 
begun in his Department, ordered General Sherman to a 
more important position ; and when General Grant moved 
upon Fort Donelson, Sherman was intrusted with the 
command of the base of operations and supplies at Pa- 



40 THE LIFE OF 

cucah. He sent forward to the troops in the field both 
supplies and re-inforcements ; and so ably did he admin- 
ister the duties of his position that General Grant offi- 
cially acknowledged that to " General Sherman's prompt- 
ness " he was more than indebted for the success of his 
operations. 

The troops under General Grant were subsequently for- 
warded up the Tennessee River to Pittsburg Landing, and 
at the request of that officer General Sherman was as- 
signed to him as a Division commander. He was placed 
at the head of the Fifth Division, and held the advance 
of the army at Shiloh Church, the headquarters being lo- 
cated at Savannah. 

Generals A. Sidney Johnston and Beauregard had con- 
trol of the rebel army in the Southwest at the time when 
Grant made his advance, and those officers, knowing that 
General Buell was marching through Tennessee to join 
Grant's Army, at once took the initiative and attacked 
Grant before Buell could arrive. Sherman's command, 
however, was in a strong position ; and by fine tactical 
manoeuvres he enabled to hold it for some time, meanwhile 
punishing the enemy severely. 

Sherman's command, on April 6th, was partially com- 
posed of green "men" — men unused to being under fire — and 
they, finding the enemy approaching with overwhelming 
numbers, broke and fled in disorder. With the remnant 
of his force he held his ground and saved the day, as was 
acknowledged by all the generals of that field. General 
Halleck in his report stated that " Sherman saved the 
fortunes of the day," and General Grant thus speaks of 
him in his official report of April 9th, 1862: " I feel it a 
duty, however, to a gallant and able officer, Brigadier- 



WILLIAM TECUMSEH SHERMAN. 41 

General W. T. Sherman to make a special mention. Ho 
not only was with his command during the entire two days 
of the action, but displayed great judgment and skill in 
the management of his .men. Although severely wounded 
in the hand on the first day, his place was never vacant. 
He was again wounded, and had three horses killed under 
him." 

During that battle nearly every officer looked, next after 
Grant, to Sherman as the saving genius of the moment. 
He was everywhere on the field, riding from place to 
place, selecting positions for his artillery, disposing of his 
men, sending directions to his subordinates and suggestions 
to his equals, and inspiring every one by his indomitable 
spirit. And yet, notwithstanding the important part he 
took on that field, there was no ostentation, no overbear- 
ing conduct, no display of superiority in his words or 
manners. 

When recommending him for promotion after the suc- 
cess of Vicksburg, General Grant wrote of Sherman as 
follows: "At the battle of Shiloh, on the first day, he 
held with raw troops the key-pJnt of the landing. It is 
no disparagement to any other officer to say that I do not 
believe there was another division commander on the field 
who hnd the skill and experience to have done it. To his 
individual efforts I am indebted for the success of that 
battle/' 

Notwithstanding the exertions of the first day, and 
the consequent fatigue arising therefrom, General Sher- 
man was ready on the second day, April 7th, when others 
had given out, to join the reinforcements under General 
Buell and to push on to victory. The rebels fought with 
desperate valor, but had to give way ; and Sherman, by 



42 THE LIFE OP 

a brilliant artillery operation on the right pushed back a 
body of rebel cavalry and infantry who were about to 
rush headlong over his forces, and caused them to retreat 
in disorder over their own dead aud wounded. 

General Sherman, on the morning of April 8th, even 
after two days' hard fighting, made a reconnoissance, at 
the head of a cavalry force and two brigades of infantry, 
along the Corinth road, where he found the abandoned 
camps of the rebels lining the roads, with hospital flags 
for their protection. He met a force of rebel Cavalry 
and drove them from their position, after which he de" 
stroyed their camp, with its stores of ammunition, &c. 
Sherman during this reconnoissance found the line of rebel 
retreat almost blocked up with abandoned wagons, am- 
bulances, and limber boxes, showing plainly the haste and 
disorder with which the rebels had fallen back to Corinth. 

At the earnest request of Generals Halleck and Grant, 
Sherman was promoted to the rank of Major- General of 
Volunteers to date from May 1st, 1862, and took a very 
important part in the operations which subsequently re- 
sulted in the evacuation of Corinth. 

From the time Sherman's division broke camp at 
Shiloh until Corinth was occupied, it held the right flank 
and most exposed position of the whole army. Being 
always in danger of an attack, the officers and men were 
ready at any moment to spring from the spade to the 
musket or vice versa as the case required. 

The rebels while in Corinth held two railroads, extend- 
ing north and south, east and west across the country, with 
a vast number of locomotives and cars to bring to them 
speedily and certainly their reinforcements and supplies. 
They called to their aid all their armies from every quar- 



WILLIAM 1ECUMSEH SHERMAN. . 43 

ter of the south-west in order to overwhelm the Union 
army before Corinth. 

The general consultation of officers took place on the 
11th of May, and shortly after the advance was ordered. 
On May 17th Sherman engaged the enemy at Russell's 
LTouse on the road to the city of Corinth, and the rebels 
were forced to give way, falling back upon their defences, 
while the Unionists occupied their former positions. Sher- 
man entrenched himself and remained at this point until 
May 27th, when he again advanced. A sharp fight took 
place between Sherman's division and the rebels, on that 
day, but before a severe engagement could be brought on, 
although Sherman made every preparation for it, the reb- 
els retired. The Union forces pushed on for the works, 
and Sherman's command — which had between the intervals 
of leaving Shiloh and the taking of tJ^e works, occupied 
and entrenched several district camps in a manner to ex- 
cite the admiration and high commendation of the com- 
manding generals — was the first to occupy the rebel de- 
fences. 

By eight o'clock on May 30th 1862, Sherman's troops 
had entered the city of Corinth and got beyond it, where 
they rested for a short time from their labors, while one 
brigade continued to pursue the flying rebels as far as 
Tuscumbia Creek — the cavalry continuing the chase to a 
much greater distance 



44 THE LIFE OP 

CHAPTER VII. 

SHERMAN, THE RULER OF MEMPHIS- -THE WINTER CAMPAIGN 

Clears the roads leading to Corinth — Ordered to Memphis — Opera 
tions against Guerillas and rebel sympathizers— Prepares for active 
service— The Vicksburg campaign of 1862 — Arkansas post, &c. 

General Sherman with his division next pushed on to 
Holly Springs, which he occupied on June 20th. This 
position was important inasmuch as it was the key to 
Corinth from the south ; and to prevent the rebels from 
surprising the latter city the bridge and trestle work of 
the Mississippi railroad at that point were destroyed in 
such a manner that it would take a long time to repair 
them. 

Shortly after this operation General Grant was placed 
in chief command of the district,* and General Sherman 
was by him selected to act as military ruler over the city 
of Memphis, which had surrendered on June 6th 1862 to 
the naval forces operating on the Mississippi River, in 
conjunction with General Grant's movement by land. 
General Sherman assumed command on July 21st 1862. 

While occupying the city of Memphis and surrounding 
vicinity General Sherman devoted his whole energies to 
the task of suppressing the guerrillas of that region, and 
rooting out the system of aiding the rebels by contraband 
traffic. He found the city disposed to resist his jurisdic- 
tion, but by the use of judicious and yet stringent measures 
he restored the rebellious citizens to order. All unoccu- 
pied buildings were taken possession of by the military 

* See StansSdd's Life of Grant, price 25 cents, T. R. Dawley Publisher. 



WILLIAM TECUMSEH SHERMAN. 45 

authorities, and all « registered enemies " — to use the 
phrase — were ordered to take the oath of allegiance or 
leave the lines of the Union armies. 

During the fall of 1862 General Sherman began to pre- 
pare for more active service, and when the grand army 
under General Grant was organized for the Vicksburg 
campaign, General Sherman was placed in command of the 
Fifteenth Army Corps. The order organizing this army bore 
date from December 22d, 1862; but the constitution of 
the forces was commenced at a much earlier perod. 

The advance of Grant's main army by way of the Jack- 
son and Grand Junction Railroad commenced November 
28th 1862, and progressed steadily until the surrender of 
Holly Springs on December 20th, 1862, when Grant was 
compelled to fall back to that point to preserve his line of 
communications. The movement of Grant's column was 
intended as a co-operative one with an expedition by way 
of the Mississippi River from Memphis to Vicksburg — 
Grant to. threaten an attack by way of Jackson, while 
Sherman assaulted the defences of Walnut Hills by way of 
the Yazoo River.* 

As General Sherman started from Friar's Point on the 
" Forest Queen '' on December 21st, it was impossible for 
him to hear of the surrender of Holly Springs on the pre- 
vious day, nor the consequent falling back of Grant's 
army. He therefore pushed on to the Yazoo River with 
the full confidence of a co-operation of the left wing of 
the main army in the attack. 

On December 27th 1862, the main forces under Sherman, 
consisting of four divisions, having successfully disem- 
barked at Johnston's Landing, near the mouth of the Ya- 

* See Life of Grant. 



46 THE LIFE OF 

zoo River, the command next prepared for an assault 
upon the northern works that defended the city of Vicks- 
burg-. By early mording the advance had moved some dis- 
tance inland. 

Vicksburg, from this point of landing, was peculiarly 
situated, being on a hill with a line of hills surrounding it 
at a distance of several miles and extending from Haines' 
Bluff on the Yazoo River, to \Yarrenton, ten miles below 
the city, on the Mississippi River. The low country in 
the vicinity is swampy, filled with sloughs, bayous and 
lagoons, and to approach Yicksburg by this route with a 
large force, even in times of peace, would be almost an im- 
possibility; therefore, with an enemy in front the chances 
were still more against success. 

On Saturday morning, December 27th 1862, Sherman's 
troops were in line of battle, and by dark the enemy was 
driven at least a quarter of a mile from his first position. 
Thus Sherman had so far successfully carried out his part 
of the plan of battle, and was in expectation of hearing 
the thunder of Grant's cannon on his left, but the disgrace- 
ful surz-ender of Holly Springs ruined the whole campaign. 

Next day the Union troops fought with great bravery 
and spirit ; but the non-arrival of the left wing disar- 
ranged the order set down for the atrack. The enemy 
that had been employed in retarding Grant s movements 
were now able to reinforce the garrison at Vicksburg, and 
by rapid concentration were enabled to mass upon Slier- 
man's small body of troops— refusing, however, to leave 
their defensive works, but instead employing the night in 
constructing others of earth. 

During December 29th several brilliant charges were 
made by the Union troops upon the rebel works on Chick- 



WILLIAM TECUMSEH SHERMAN. 47 

asaw Bluffs ; but all was in vain, for the rebels even with- 
out the defences were much stronger than the assaulting 
columns. Therefore after the burial of the dead the com- 
mand was withdrawn, and re-embarked in the transports 
which were lying on the Yazoo River. 

On the 1st of January, 1863, General McClernand ar- 
rived, and by virtue of seniority on the lineal roll of the 
army register, assumed command of the whole of the right 
wing of Grant's army, General Sherman resuming com- 
mand of the Fifteenth Army Corps. 

General Grant in speaking of this operation, after the 
capture of Yicksburg, stated as follows : " General Sher- 
man's arrangement as commander of troops in the attack 
upon Chickasaw Bluffs last December was admirable ; see- 
ing the ground from the opposite side from the attack, I 
Baw the impossibility of making it successful." 

General Sherman, on January 4th 1863, issued a con- 
gratulatory order to his troops in which he praised their 
prowess in the attack upon Chickasaw Bluffs, and also an- 
nounced his relinquishment of the chief command and as- 
sumption of that of his own corps. 

As General Sherman had refused to allow the news- 
paper correspondents to accompany his expedition, the 
whole Press of the North took the opportunity arising 
from his repulse to abuse him, to cast doubts upon his mil- 
itary capacity, and to call for his removal. General Grant, 
however, maintained his high opinion of him, and retained 
him in command, whereupon the Press callen for the re- 
moval of both unless Sherman was dismissed. Much how- 
ever of this abuse arose from the fact that neither Grant 
nor Sherman would, like the political generals, truckle to 
the correspondents, but preferred to allow time and their 



48 THE LIFE OF 

own actions to carve for them a name and create a feeling 
of gratitude and appreciation in the hearts of the people of 
the country. Time has proved how little the Press knew 
of either of the men who now lead the two mightiest 
armies ever organized in the world. 

The rebels had established at this period of the war, a 
fortified position known as Fort Hindman, at Arkansas 
Post on the Arkansas River, and General Sherman had 
devised a plan with Admiral Porter for the capture of 
the post, with its garrison and armaments entire. The 
arrival of General McClernand, however, prevented Sher- 
man from assuming the chief command of the military por- 
tion of the expedition ; but although the former held the 
nominal command the latter planned the attack and car- 
ried out its details. Grant knew who was entitled to the 
credit and gave it to the right man. 

The Union forces, consisting of the Thirteenth and Fif- 
teenth corps, after leaving the Yazoo River, made their 
way up the Mississippi River to Montgomery Point, oppos- 
ite the mouth of the White River. On Friday, January 
9th, 1863, three iron-clads, with all the light draft gun- 
boats moved up the White River, followed by a fleet of 
transports. After ascending the White River about fif- 
teen miles the fleet passed through a cut-off to the left, 
eight miles in length, into the Arkansas River, reaching 
the latter stream at about eleven o'clock in the morning. 
At about half past four o'clock in the afternoon, the fleet 
moved to the shore, and preparations were made to land 
three miles below the fort. The artillery and wagons 
were brought on shore during the evening and night, and 
in the morning of January 10th, the troops were landed 



WILLIAM TEGUMSEH SHERMAN. 49 

and marshalled in the fields bordering on the north bank. 
The attack, however, was begun by the gunboats. 

The guns of the rebel fort commanded the river as it 
stretched to the east and even after the turn to the 
South. The advance of the troops had therefore to be 
along the outside bank of this curve of the river, and it 
was expected by the men that the attack upon the for 
would be made during that day ; but at sun-down they 
were not in position. Orders were therefore issued for 
the troops to get into position during the night so as to 
make an early attack the next morning. 

The force of General Sherman worked its way through 
forest and marsh round to the right so as r to invest the 
fort, while a brigade was thrown across the river to pre- 
vent the arrival down of re-inforceinents to the rebels. 

The fort was a regular square bastioned work one hun 
dred yards each exterior side, with a deep ditch about fif- 
teen feet wide, and a parapet eighteen feet high. It was 
armed with twelve guns — two of which were eight-inch, 
and one nine-inch. The number of rebel troops which it 
contained was about five thonsand, with an additional 
force on the outside of the walls, all under the command of 
General Churchill. 

During the evening of January 10th, the fort was bom- 
barded by the iron-clads. The engagement was a brisk 
one and lasted for half-an-hour. 

About noon, on January 11th, signals were made for a 
joint military and naval attack on the work. The gun- 
boats approached and the fort opened fire, being replied 
to by the guns of the fleet. At the same time a battery 
under General Sherman's command began to fire, and the 
troops were advanced to attack. The heavy guns of the 



50 THE LIFE OP 

fort were soon silenced,; but the military contest still 
continued and became very hot during the afternoon. At 
four o'clock the eueiny raised the white flag, and the 
troops rushed into the fort and occupied it. 

The Union loss was about six hundred, while the rebels 
lost besides the killed, fifteen thousand prisoners, eight 
thousand stand of arms, twenty cannon and a large amount 
of ordnance and commissary stores. The rebel rifle pits 
were leveled and the fort blown up, after which the troops 
returned to join General Grant. 

General Grant during July 1863 stated that "the con- 
ception of the attack upon Arkansas Post was General 
Sherman's ; and his part of the execution, no one denies 
was as good as it possibly could have been." 



CHAPTER VIII. 

SHERMAN DURING THE VICKSBQRG CAMPAIGN. 

TJie Steele's Bayou Expedition— The feint on the North— Rapid 
marching to Grand G ulf— Participation in the Advance— Attack 
upon and first occupation of Jackson— Advance to and passage of the 
Black River— Capture of the Walnut Hills— Attack on Vicksburg— 
The Siege— Sherman's expedition to the Rear— The pursuit of Johns- 
ton's rebel forces— Second capture of Jackson— Brigadier-General of 
the Regular Army, &c. 

During the early part of 1863, the forces under General 
Grant made a number of side expeditions around Vicks- 
burg for the purpose of drawing off the enemy's attention 
from the main operations of the Union troops, and in one 
of these Sherman took a very important part. 

Admiral Porter had made a reconnoissance down 
Steele's Bayou, and through Black Bayou to Duck Creek, 



WILLIAM TECUMSEH SHERMAN. 51 

and on March 14th, 1862, reported to General Grant that 
the route was navigable for small vessels of light draft. 
The object to be gained was an entrance into the Yazoo 
River above Haine's Bluff. A number of vessels were 
sent by this route, and during the early part of the expe- 
dition was accompanied by the General commanding, who 
however returned to Young's Point to send forward a pio- 
neer force, to clear away the wild overhanging trees which 
obstructed the progress of the vessels. 

Soon after General Grant reached Young's Point, a 
message was received from Admiral Porter, who had pro- 
ceeded along the bayou, requesting the co-operation of a 
good military force. General Grant promptly sent him 
a division of the Fifteenth Army Corps with General Sher- 
man at its head. The major part of this military force 
had to pass overland to the point of the bayous, as the 
channel of the tortuous water courses was too shallow to 
admit of transports. Geueral Sherman, marched himself 
at the head of a single pioneer regiment to clear away the 
trees and snags; and Admiral Porter, on March 21st, 
finding the obstruction of the water course to be formida- 
ble, a large force of the enemy armed with powerful 
batteries in his front and on his flanks, and the stream too 
narrow for mancevures, sent back to Sherman, then several 
miles distant, to hasten on his way, or his vessels would 
be lost. The rebels began also to press on the rear of the 
gunboats and to fell trees into the water behind them, 
until the vessels were in a kind of a trap, and all hope of 
saving them seemed to be lost. 

On the morning of March 22d, Sherman received Ad- 
miral Porter's message, Delay would have been destruc- 
tion, and this the General well knew. He ordered an in- 



52 THE LIFE OP 

stant start, and with a large sized brigade he commenced 
a forced march of great rapidity over roads, nrirey and 
swampy, until the rebel pickets were met. These were 
driven in, and Sherman pushed for the boat?, the rebel 
troops moving at the same time by the flank in order to 
reach and seize the vessels before he could relieve those 
who manned them. 

As the rebels approached the boats, Admiral Porter 
opened a heavy fire upon them with his guns, and so kept 
off the enemy, until Sherman's forces, which had marched 
rapidly to the sound of the artillery, arrived at the scene 
of strife. Sherman threw his whole available strength on 
the rebel troops and they, surprised and astonished at his 
arrival, retreated in hot haste, the gunboats being saved 
not a moment too soon. Had not Sherman performed one 
of the most arduous forced marches of the war, through 
forests and swamps of cypress and vviilow, the vessels must 
have beeu lost beyond redemption. 

The advance on Vicksburg via the Louisiana shore 
commenced soon after this, and the three corps marched 
from Milliken's Bend. In order to deceive the enemy in 
Vicksbnrg Grant planned a feint movement on the north, 
which, however, he feared to carry out lest the people 
should think he had made another failure in his attempts 
to take Vicksburg. Sherman requested that he might be 
allowed to conduct this operation, and General Grant 
consented "providing it could be done without the ill ef- 
fect on the army and the country of an appearance of a 
repulse." 

Sherman in his report of the operations says ; " Know- 
ing full well that the army could distinguish a feint from 
a real attack, by succeeding events, I made the necessary 



WILLIAM TECUMSEH SHERMAN. 53 

orders, embarked the Second Division on ten steam trans- 
ports and sailed for the Yazoo River." 

Early on the morning of April 29tb, 1863, General 
Sherman, with this force proceeded to the mouth of tho 
Yazoo River, where he found several vessels of the fleet 
ready to co-operate with the feigned movement. The 
united military and naval forces then proceeded up the 
Yazoo River, in proper order, and lay for that night at 
the mouth of the Chickasaw Bayou. The next morning, 
at an early hour, the fleet passed up within easy range of 
the enemy's batteries. The gunboats made an attack upon 
the works, and for four hours a very pretty demonstration 
was kept up, after which the vessels withdrew out of 
range. Towards evening, General Sherman, in full view 
of the enemy, disembarked his troops, and made a great 
show of preparation for an .attack and assault. As the 
works were heavily armed, such a course of action, if real, 
would have been nothing less than madness, and was only 
justified by the fact that show and not work was intended. 

The gunboats again opened fire, and by the activity of 
the enemy it was very plain that he was deceived by the 
demonstration, and was making every preparation, by 
calling for reinforcements, &c, to resist the movement. 
This was all that was wanted, and Sherman re-embarked 
his troops during the night. 

Next day, a number of other demonstrations were made 
along the Yazoo River, until the rebels became greatly 
confused as to the object ot Sherman, and the point where 
he meant to strike. While thus engaged Sherman received 
orders to re-join General Grant at Grand Gulf. He there- 
fore ordered the two divisions left behind at Miliken's Bend 
to march via Richmond, La., to Hard Times, a landing 



54 THE LIFE OP 

nearly opposite Grand Gulf, while he kept up the feint 
along the Yazoo ; then dropping quietly down the river with 
the remainder of his force to Young's Point, he speedily 
followed his advanced troops and soon caught up to them ; 
and on May 6th, after a hasty forced march of about sixty 
miles, arrived at Grand Gulf. During that night and the 
next morning, the troops were transported across the Mis- 
sissippi, and pushed forward to the rear of Vicksburg. 

On May 12th, Sherman's forces participated in the skir- 
mishing operations at Fourteen Mile Creek ; after which, 
in conjunction with General McPherson, started for Jack- 
son, the Mississippi State Capital. The rain fell in tor- 
rents during this inarch, and the troops had to travel over 
mirey roads, made still more disagreeable by the wheels 
of the artillery and wagons cutting up the ground. Not- 
withstanding this fact the troops pushed on for fourteen 
miles without straggling, and in the best of spirits, " lor 
Sherman led the way." 

Arriving before Jackson, Sherman found that the rebel 
General Johnston had opposed to him a force of infantry 
and artillery ; but after a brief contest the Union com- 
mander by a reconnoissance soon discovered this defence 
to be very weak, and that the main force of the rebels 
had gone along the Vicksburg railroad to attack Mc- 
Pherson's column. Johnston's army was beaten, and 
Sherman occupied the city of Jackson, where he destroyed 
the railroads, bridges, and all Government and other 
property that could be made of use by the enemy in a 
military point of view. 

Early on the morning of May 16th, General Grant sent 
to Sherman an order to move with all possible despatch 
and join the main army via Bolton. In one hour from 



WILLIAM TECUMSEH SHERMAN. 55 

the time he received the order Sherman and the advance 
of his command were on the road. The whole column 
after a forced march of twenty miles reached Bolton that 
night. 

The order now came to keep on to Bridgeport, and by 
noon the next day Sherman was at that place, on the 
banks of the Big Black River. Pontoon bridges had 
already been sent by General Grant, and the troops 
crossed the stream and early next morning continued the 
advance towards Vicksburg. 

Sherman now held the right of Grant's line, and to him 
was assigned the duty of opening the communication to 
the new water base on the Yazoo River. By a quick de- 
tour to the right he took possession of Walnut Hill, and 
thus enabled the fleet and army again to co-operate. 

With regard to the foregoing operation General Grant 
wrote to the War Department as follows ; " His rapid 
march to join the army" after the feint in the Yazoo River, 
" his management at Jackson, Miss., in the first attack ; his 
almost unequalled march from Jackson to Bridgeport and 
passage of Black River ; his securing Walnut Hills on 
the 18th of May, attest his (Sherman) great merit as a 
soldier." 

Sherman had from the first held the right of Grant's 
army ; and now, strange as it may appear, he by the dis- 
position of that army occupied the vefy ground he had 
sought to take the previous December by way of the 
Yazoo, having the following May seized it from the rear. 

The order now came to attack the defences of Vicks- 
burg, and promptly the men rushed to their work. The 
ground over which the advance was made was very rugged 
and broken, covered with abatis, and defended by artil- 



56 THE LIFE OF 

lery. Sherman's troops, always in time, ever ready at 
the proper moment, was enabled to make a vigorous as- 
sault, although in consequence of the nature of the ground 
the line was slow and irregular in reaching the trenches. 
The advance stormed the rebel defences with somewhat 
severe loss, and even gained position ; but found it im- 
possible to enter the works in consequence of their 
strength. The fight was continued till night ; but the 
men were still outside the defences, and the assaulting 
column was withdrawn to a more sheltered position, to 
rest. Sherman held his line of skirmishers well up to the 
rebel forts on his front, and his artillerists were engaged 
in an unavailing attempt to destroy the works of the 
enemy. 

On May 22d, another assault, still more severe, was 
made on the rebel works, and Sherman's men pushed 
through all sorts of obstructions, including tangled wire, 
cane, wild vines, tree-boughs, &c, up to the base of some 
of the works. The rebels showered upon the assaulting 
column shells and hand grenades ; and yet, in spite of 
these deadly and destructive missiles, the gallant men 
of his corps lay under the very guns of the fort, for Sher- 
man had inspired every private of his command with his 
own indomitable spirit and courage. The loss was ter- 
rific, and the works were too strong to be taken by as- 
sault ; therefore, repulsed, but not defeated, the men re- 
tired from the unequal contest. The spade now took the 
place of the bayonet; and the fortifications were ap- 
proached by counter- works. 

While the miners and engineers were busy with their 
operations a report reached General Grant that Johnston 
with a rebel force was about to cross the Black River to 



WILLIAM TECUM3EU SHERMAN. 57 

attack him in the rear. He therefore, knowing he could 
trust General Sherman with that duty, ordered him to 
take a certain number of troops, and find out where John- 
ston's forces were. About this time a rebel courier was 
captured, en route from Vicksburg to Johnston, and on 
him was found a letter from a soldier to his wife, in which 
it was stated that the defenders of that city were resigned 
to their fate, and had put their trust in the Lord for their 
deliverance. They however, still lived in the hope of 
Johnson coming to their assistance. Grant therefore in 
his despatches to Sherman stated that " the enemy ap- 
peared to put a great deal of faith in the Lord and Joe 
Johnston, but," continued he, " you must whip Johnston at 
least fifteen miles from here.*' Had Johnston appeared, 
Sherman would certainly have done so ; but although 
threatening a great attack, the rebel leader never attempt- 
ed to make it. The expedition therefore returned to th e 
Black River. 

Vicksburg was surrounded on July 3d, 1863, and in 
accordance with a previous arrangement, Sherman at the 
head of all the forces except the column of occupation, 
started once more in the direction of Jackson. It had 
been agreed between Generals Grant and Sherman for the 
final assault on Vicksburg to take place of July 6th ; and 
in the meantime the latter was instructed to get up his 
supplies so that he might be able to move at a moment's 
notice. Sherman at once made his preparations, and (adds 
Grant) " when the place surrendered on the 4th, too days 
earlier than I had fixed for the attack, General Sherman 
was found ready, and moved at once.'' 

The army under this leader advanced steadily, until on 
July 12th, he had invested the city of Jackson, from Pearl 



58 THE LIFE OP 

River on the north to the same stream south of that 
place — the river passing through the heart of the city. 
By this manoeuvre, he succeeding in cutting off a large 
quantity of rolling stock from the Confederacy. He also 
succeeded while foraging, in capturing Jeff Davis's library> 
consisting of several thousand volumes and a quantity of 
private papers, &c., which had been secreted in a house 
some distance outside of Jackson, Somo of the papers 
bore evidence of the deep-laid plot of the rebellion, and 
showed how long the scheme had been in maturing. 

On July 12th, Sherman sent out a cavalry force to break 
the railroad east of Jackson, and to destroy all the 
bridges, culverts, rolling stock, &., in order to cut off the 
retreat of the rebels. 

The next day under cover of a fog, the rebels made a 
sortie from Jackson upon the investing forces under Sher- 
man ; but the enemy was met by great resistance and re- 
pulsed. Shortly after this Joe Johnston's command 
began evacuating the city, and on the night of July 16th, 
the rebel leader left with the remnant of his forces. Had 
he not done so, the next day would have found him en- 
closed within a wall of Union bayonets. 

Sherman at once occupied the city, and sent expeditions 
in all directions destroying bridges, water-tanks, railroads 
and every kind of property of military use to the enemy. 
" The last capture of Jackson," said Grant, " and disper- 
sion of Johnston's army, entitle General Sherman to more 
credit than usually falls to the lot of one man to earn." 

For the gallant part he had taken in this campaign Gen- 
eral Grant recommended Sherman for the vacant Brig- 
adier-Generalship caused by the retirement of General 



WILLIAM TECUMSEH SHERMAN. 59 

Harney : and the President appointed him to the position, 
with a commission dating from July 4th, 1863. The 
Senate unanimously confirmed the appointment. 



CHAPTER IX. 

SHERMAN AT CHATTANOOGA. 

The march across the country from Memphis to Chattanooga — 
The Chattanooga Campaign — Chase of Bragg to Ringgold — Relief 
of Knoxville — Return to Chattanooga — Dinner at Memphis, &c. 

After a brief rest Sherman s troops returned towards 
Vicksburg, and during the month of September lay in 
camp along the Big Black River guarding the region east 
of that fortified city. After the disaster of Chickamaug 
the General-in-chief telegraphed to him to send a division 
at once to reinforce Rosecrans, and at four o'clock on that 
same afternoon, September 22d, the selected division 
marched into Vicksburg, and embarked for Memphis. The 
next day he received peremptory orders to follow with his 
whole corps, and started instantly for Vicksburg — his 
troops being always ready for active operations at the 
shortest notice. On September 27th, he was on the River 
en route for Memphis, all his troops being in transports 
within call. In consequence of the low stage of the water, 
and the scarcity of fuel, his main army did not arrive at 
Memphis before October 4th ; but the advance forces 
had already reached Corinth en route for Chattanooga. 

General Halleck next ordered Sherman to move his 
corps and all other available troops to Athens, Alabama, 
following and repairing the railroad, and supplying him- 



60 THE LIFE OF 

3elf en route. At once the work was commenced along 
the railroad, and continued night and day. In order, 
however, to move his trains the faster, he sent them by the 
ordinary road under escort — marching one whole division 
overland. 

The rebels took the alarm at this movement eastward, 
ind a force was sent by them to Salem and Tuscumbia, with 
the intention of preventing a junction between Rosecrans 
and Sherman. Hearing of this Sherman, on October 11th, 
ordered forward his whole force towards Corinth, and 
started himself on a special train on the 13th, attended by 
his own regiment of regulars, the Thirteenth U. S. In- 
fantry, as an escort. 

A pretty little incident occurred while Sherman was 
en route. Chalmers' rebel forces had invested a small 
force of Union troops in a stackade at Colliersville, and as 
Sherman's train approached it was fired upon. The Gen- 
eral saw the position of affairs, and soon changed the 
aspect ; for leading his own escort he ordered a charge 
upon the rebels, and beat off a superior force, scattering 
the foe in every direction. 

Reaching Corinth that night, Sherman ordered one di- 
vision to push speedily on to and through Iuka to Bear 
Creek — several miles beyond — and after making certain 
dispositions of his troops he again directed his attention to 
the railroad. A severe fight took place at Cane Creek, 
after which Tuscumbia was occupied on October 27th. 

At this time General Grant was in full command of tho 
" Military Division of the Mississippi," and Sherman was 
placed at the head of the " Army and Department of the 
Tennessee " On October 27th an order was received from 
General Grant for Sherman " to drop all work on the rail- 



WILLIAM TECUMSEH SHERMAN. 61 

road east of Bear Creek," and to march instantly for 
Bridgeport near Chattanooga. Instantly the troops were 
set in motion, and by the 1st of November Sherman crossed 
the Tennessee River at Eastport at the head of his column. 
The state of the river prevented the army from crossing, 
and the troops had to march via Fayetteville to Bridgeport. 

Having telegraphed to General Grant from Bridgeport 
the exact position of each division of his forces, Sherman 
pushed on to Chattanooga, where he arrived on November 
15th, and reported in person. Grant received him cor- 
dially, and ordered him to make certain demonstrations on 
Lookout Mountain and Missionary Ridge preparatory to 
future operations. Notwithstanding this long march from 
Memphis to Bridgeport, Sherman " saw enough of the con- 
dition of the men and animals in Chattanooga to inspire 
him with new energy," and he at once began moving cer- 
tain portions of his forces, while he himself in a small row 
boat started for Bridgeport to arrange the movements of 
his remaining columns. At this stage of the proceedings 
the roads were in a horrible condition, and army move- 
ments caused considerable labor to both men and comman- 
ders. 

On the 23d of November, Sherman had three divisions 
behind the heights which faced the mouth of the Chicka- 
mauga River, while the fourth operated against Lookout 
Mountain. During that night ho moved a force quietly 
across the river and captured the enemy's pickets, thus 
keeping his movements a secret for the time. To the sur- 
prise of the rebels, the next morning showed to them a foe 
of eight thousand men on the east bank of the Tennessee, 
protected by a tete du pont* and by dawn a pontoon bridge, 
nearly a quarter of a mile long was begun. Shortly after 



62 THE LIFE OF 

noon the bridge was complete and the troops marching 
across. 

The following incident is related of this event : " Gen- 
eral Howard with his division was ordered to join General 
Sherman, and when the former came up the latter was 
standing on the unfinished pontoon bridge which he was 
building. The last boat of the bridge was being put in 
the centre of the stream as General Howard arrived and 
introduced himself across the slight gulf between the two. 
At the moment of its occurrence the meeting was one of 
considerable interest — the representative of the army of 
the east and the leader of one of the armies of the west, 
meeting thus, for the first time, on the same field. Sher- 
man stood on the north end of the bridge, dressed loosely, 
with a warm gum overcoat thrown around him, directing 
the completion of the bridge ; and as soon as the boat was 
put in he sprang over and shook the hand of the princely 
Howard." 

During the whole morning the weather had been over- 
hanging and drizzly, and concealed Sherman's manoeuvres. 
Between three and four o'clock in the afternoon the posi- 
tion at the foot of Missionary Ridge was gained, and 
quickly pushing up the hill the enemy was thoroughly sur- 
prised and the height was taken. Sherman gave his or- 
ders in a very quiet tone of voice ; and directed how to 
form for the assault, remarking that the enemy was re- 
ported very heavy in his front. The formation as ordered, 
was echelon on the left, which was to keep well towards 
Chickamauga Creek ; 

" And " added Sherman " I want you to keep up the 
formation, four hundred yards distance, until you get to 
the foot of the hill. " 



WILLIAM TECUMSEH SHERMAN. 63 

" And shall we keep it after that?" inquired one of his 
division generals. 

" You may go up the hill," was Sherman's reply " if you 
like, and can." 

Shortly after Sherman saw that the advance had got 
into position, and he therefore gave orders for the assault 
in the following words : — 

" I see Davis is up. I guess you may as well go on 
and take the hill." 

The hill was taken ; but the enemy vexed and annoyed 
at being caught in such a manner, and seriously threat- 
ened on the flank, fought with some amount of despera. 
tion. Sherman's artillery which had been dragged up the 
steep hill sides soon silenced him, and the position was 
gained. 

The chief objective point, however, was now seen to bo 
the second spur on the ridge, still beyond ; a gap being 
between the position gained and the one desired. To pre- 
vent mishap, Sherman fortified what he had thus secured, 
and prepared for further operations. 

To Sherman was thus again given the vital position 
where as it would appear to the country, he was sure to 
sustain defeat; but in reality it was one on which the success 
of the whole campaign would depend. Sherman was to 
attack Missionary Ridge with great vigor and determina- 
tion, and it would be necessary for the enemy to mass their 
forces on that point to resist the movement. The rebels 
in order to make any sort of resistance would have to 
weaken another portion of their line, and to cause them to 
do this was the main object of Sherman's movement. The 
frowning heights to be assaulted were of such a character 
that the attempt to scale them appeared to be little short 



64 THE LIFE OP 

of madness, yet Sherman undertook the task ; and by half 
past three o'clock in the the afternoon of November 2-lth, 
the whole of the noithern extremity of Missionary Ridge 
to near the tunnel was in Sherman's possession. During 
the night he fortified the position thus secured, making it 
equal, if not superior, in strength to that held by the 
enemy. 

Next morning before sunrise, Sherman personally in- 
spected the whole position. Between him and the enemy 
was a valley — the sides and crest of the opposite hill being 
wooded, with the farther point held by the enemy's armed 
breastworks supported by infantry. At a more distant 
point of the same ridge the rebels were in force, and their 
artillery commanded the disputed ground. "The enemy's 
position was almost impregnable ; but still it was to be as- 
saulted. As the sun rose, the bugles of the Union advance 
sounded "Forward" and the men moved rapidly down 
and across the valley, and up the hill beyond, carrying 
everything before them. The artillery and breastworks 
commanding the position swept the crest, and for an hour 
a deadly conflict ensued on the right, while the left of 
Sherman's line became hotly engaged abreast of the tun- 
nel. About ten o'clock in the morning the fight raged 
furiously, and reinforcements were sent up ; but the crest 
was so crowded that the Union troops had to fall away to 
the west of the hill. The enemy had massed heavily, un- 
der cover of the brush, and moved out in great strength 
upon the small forces of Sherman's men. This sudden 
movement of the rebels caused some confusion among the 
attacking troops who fell back, but re-formed in good or- 
der at the other end of the field. The assaulting column, 
however, advanced to the very rifle-pits of the enemy and 



WILLIAM TECUMSEH SHERMAN. 65 

held their position firmly and without wavering. It is true 
that when the two brigades fell back, the rebels made a 
show of pursuit; but they were so ably caught in flank, by 
the well directed fire of one brigade on the wooded crest, 
that they hastily sought cover behind the hill. 

Sherman obstinately held the position thus gained ; and 
as the rebels could not afford to lose it, their leaders sent 
during the afternoon column after column of troops to its 
support, and concentrated their artillery fire from every 
hill and spur that gave a view of any part of the ground; 
Sherman's men had at last to give way before this pres- 
sure. The enemy in his desperation to defeat or resist the 
progress of Sherman, weakened his centre on Missionary 
Ridge; which fact was no sooner ascertained than Grant 
ordered an advance at once. The heavy masses that were 
fiorhtins: Sherman now found Thomas on the left flank and 
their centre broken in. They turned, but it was too late? 
for they had committed the fatal error which it had been 
Sherman's duty to endeavor to make them do, and the vic- 
tory of Chattanooga was won, although Sherman's forces 
were beaten back. 

Now came the pursuit. Sherman pushed after the re- 
treat in forces along the left, and every step he advanced 
he met the unmistakeable signs of the retreat of a defeated, 
dispirited foe. The roads were literally lined with debris. 
At night on the 26th, the rear guard was overtaken and 
engaged, and next day three columss were pursuing the 
rebels ; all moving upon one point of concentration. 
Sherman, however, detached Howard from his immediate 
command, and sent him to destroy the roads into East 
Tennessee, to prevent Longstreet, who was in the vicin- 
ity of Knoxville, from again marching towards Chatta- 



6Q THE LIFE OF 

nooga. Sherman continued the chase to Ringgold where 
he found General Grant. The pursuit was then given up 
and the troops ordered back to Chattanooga. Tennessee 
was redeemed.* 

Sherman's task, however, was not finished. Although 
his troops were tired and weary, still while there was work 
to be done they were ready to perform it. General Grant 
had ordered certain forces forward to the relief of Knox- 
ville ; but when that officer returned to Chattanooga on 
the 28th, the troops were still there. " 1 therefore deter- 
mined," says Grant, in his official report, " notwithstand- 
ing the fact that two divisions of Sherman's forces had 
marched from Memphis, and had gone into battle imme- 
diately on their arrival at Chattanooga, to send him with 
his command." Accordingly Sherman was placed in com- 
mand of the relieving columns. The troops, which seven 
days before had left their camps on the other side of the 
Tennessee river with but two days' rations, without a 
change of clothing and stripped for the fight, with but a 
single coat or blanket per man from the General to the 
humblest private were again on the march. The only 
provisions they had received had been what they had 
gathered by the way, and consequently they were badly 
supplied for such an expedition. " But," says Sherman, 
"we had learned that twelve thousand men, our fellow 
soldiers, were beleaguered in the mountain town of Knox- 
ville, eighty-four miles distant, that they needed relief and 
must have it in three days. This was enough ; and it had 
to be done." 

It is needless here to say that the march was accomplish- 
ed in time to relieve the garrison at Knoxville — for that 

*For the Chattanooga campaign, complete, see Life of Grant, price 25 cents. 



WILLIAM TECUMSEH SHERMAN. 67 

fact is too well known to those who have watched the pro. 
ceedings of this war. The roads over which Sherman had 
to march his troops were in the most horrible condition ; 
but in spite of every obstacle, broken bridges and bad 
roads, the advance of Sherman's troops arrived at Knox- 
ville, on Decembem 4th, and Longstreet finding he was in 
danger raised the siege. Then, and not till then, Sherman 
allowed his troops to rest— his work was done. 

General Burnside on December 7th, 18G3, officially ac- 
knowledged to General Sherman the obligation he was 
under to hi in for his promptness in coming to his relief 
during the siege ; and expressed his full conviction that 
his approach served to raise the siege. Shortly alter this, 
General Sherman and his command returned to Chatta- 
nooga, after one of the most arduous campaigns of the war. 

During the early part of 1864, General Sherman wrote 
a very lengthy and complete letter on the proper treat- 
ment of disloyal people in a conquered region of country 
— a document of value unequalled in completeness of any 
issued during the war, and proving that Sherman is not 
only a man of the sword but also a master of the pen. 

General Sherman, on January 25th, 1864, was honored 
with a magnificent dinner at Memphis, where he delivered 
the speech in which he said : " I was at West Point with 
General Grant. The General is not a man of remarkable 
learning, but he is one of the bravest I ever saw. He 
smokes his cigar with coolness in the midst ol flying shot. 
He has no fear, because he is an honest man. I like 
Grant. I do not say he is a hero ; I do not believe in 
heroes ; but I know he is a gentleman, and a good man." 
Such was Sherman's expressed opinion of General Grant.* 

*Larke's Life of Grant, page 406. 



63 THE LIFE OP 

Soon after this dinner, Sherman started on his famous 
Central Mississippi expedition of 1864. 

An incident is related of Sherman's men during the 
Chattanooga campaign that is very interesting : 

After " the boys " returned to Chattanooga, one of the 
sentinels challenged one of Sherman's men and received 
the reply that he " belonged to the Fifteenth Corps." 

" Where's your badge?" inquired the sentinel. 

" What badge ?" was the interrogatory reply. 

u The badge of your corps. We wear a crescent to de- 
signate us." The querist belonged to the Eleventh Corps. 

" Badge ?" smartly replied the man. " Forty rounds 
of ammunition in our cartridge boxes ; sixty rounds in 
our pockets ; a march from Memphis to Chattanooga ; 
a battle and pursuit ; another march to Knoxville; 
and victory everywhere. That is badge enough for us." 

He passed the sentinel without further question. 



CHAPTER X. 

Sherman's central Mississippi expedition. 

The Cava try party — Sherman's moveable column — No base of supplies 
— Destruction and Desolation to the rebels, frc. 

About the time the citizens of Memphis were getting 
up the dinner in Sherman's honor, he was preparing for 
his Central Mississippi expedition ; and immediately after 
the dinner he left that city for Vicksburg, having first 
ordered General W. Sooy Smith to start at the head of a 
force of Cavalry, 8,000 strong, to march from Memphis on 



WILLIAM TECUMSEH SHERMAN. 69 

February 1st, move down to Meridian, and, destroying the 
enemy's railroads, to join him at that point. This force, 
however, did not commence its movement at the proper 
time. 

On the 3d of February, 1884, General Sherman, at the 
head of a force of twenty thousand infantry and twelve 
hundred cavalry, and a wagon train containing twenty 
days' rations moved out from Vicksburg. As he did not 
want to be interfered with in his rear, he held no line of 
communications ; but cut himself loose from his base, and 
constituted his force into a strictly " mobile column." The 
perils attending such a column in an enemy's country, none 
can appreciate but those who have participated in such an 
expedition ; and yet nothing is stronger if it only accom- 
plish its mission within the time set down for the work. 

It is true Sherman expected fighting, and was ready for 
it ; but the rebels retreated before him, delaying him by 
slight skirmishes, destroying roads and bridges, and plac- 
ing impediments in the way. 

The line of Sherman's own march was in an easterly 
direction, following the same route taken by him, from 
Vicksburg to the Mississippi State Capital, during the pre- 
vious July. He first crossed the Big Black River, thence 
passed to the old battle-field of Champions' Hill ; thence 
to Clinton and Jackson. The three columns which had 
taken different routes were there united, and Sherman as- 
sumed command of the whole force. The march was now 
continued ; and with but little opposition the expedition 
arrived at Quitman which was captured. Shortly after 
the village of Enterprize was taken, and still the column 
moved on. So rapid and bold a movement, and carried 
out as it was with a master hand, appeared completely to 



70 THE LIFE OF 

paralyze the energies of the rebels, "so much so that they could 
offer no serious opposition to his passage across the country. 

On February 13th, Sherman's expeditionary column 
was at the Big Chunkey River, which it crossed and 
then pushed forward for Meridian. Vicksburg was at the 
extreme West of the State of Mississippi and Meridian at 
the East. Sheridan had traveled a distance of about one 
hundred miles across the whole State — the Garden of the 
Confederacy— and was now in possession of the main 
point of the railroad lines, the centre of which was at 
Meridian. On his march he had captured an immense 
amount of stores, and had destroyed thousands of dollar's 
worth of property belonging to the rebel Government in- 
cluding railroads, mills, &c, 

General Sherman now halted his own column to wait 
for General Smith's Cavalry Column, which should as be- 
fore stated, have left Memphis on February 1st. Smith, 
however, did not arrive ; he had started after the time ap- 
pointed, was met en route by the rebels, and driven back 
defeated and disgraced. Sherman needed the eight thou- 
sand cavalry to prosecute his onward movement, and with- 
out them he did not choose to proceed further. After 
waiting a reasonable time, in the meanwhile destroying all 
he could in the vicinity, he returned to Vicksburg by the 
same route he had pursued in his advance. There is but 
little doubt, had Smith joined him at the proper time, 
Sherman would have pushed through Alabama and cither 
struck at Mobile or Montgomery ; but the failure of the 
Cavalry to join him turned the grand expedition into a 
mere raid — one of the most damaging and destructive, 
however, that had visited that part of the country, caus- 
ing great alarm and consternation. 



WILLIAM TECUMSEH SHERMAN. 71 

During the retrograde movement the rebels kept at a 
very respectful distance, never daring to attack ; and the 
expedition returned to Vicksburg intact, after a very im- 
portant three weeks' campaign. 



CHAPTER XL 

SHERMAN A MILITARY DIVISION COMMANDER— THE NORTHERN 
GEORC-IA CAMPAIGN. 

The Military Division of the Mississippi — Sherman in Command — A 
thoroughly organized Grand Campaign — Concentratioa of Supplies — The 
Start from Chattanooga — Etowah and destruction of iron works — Dallas — 
AUatoona Pass — Big Shanty — Cufp Farm — Kenesaw — Marietta — Ro$' 
seau's Raid — A. J. Smith's Expedition — Atlanta — Death of McPherson — 
Evacuation of Atlanta — Major- General of liegulars, $•<-. 

On the 12th of March, 1863, General Sherman succeed- 
ed General Grant in the command of the military division 
of the Mississippi, the latter officer being placed at the head 
of the armies of the United States. The military division 
embraced the States of Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississippi, 
Alabama, and Georgia, and all the troop3 therein : and 
having water bases on the Mississippi River, with its east- 
ern affluents, including the Ohio. General Grant paid 
General Sherman a visit shortly before the general campaign 
of 1864, and arranged with him for a co-operative cam- 
paign in the centre military zone, while he (Grant) per- 
sonally superintended the one in the eastern zone. After 
this interview, General Grant returned to Washington, 
feeling perfectly certain that Sherman, was fully competent 
to carry out his part of the proposed plan of operations. 



72 THE LIFE OP 

The first thing Sherman began to see about, was to im- 
prove the transportation between Nashville and Chattanoo- 
ga. A very large amount of supplies was consumed each 
day by the army, therefore Sherman dctermiued to make 
the railroad carry double the amount over the road than 
was wanted. Thus at the end of one month, thirty days' 
extra supplies were stored at Chattanooga. This plan 
of transporting stores to the depots was carried on through- 
out the whole of his Georgia campaign ; for no sooner was 
a place taken possession of, than the railroad and trans- 
portation corps was set to work to open communication, 
and instantly the supplies were sent along — not merely 
the amount needed for present operations, but a duplicate 
or triplicate quantity for storage. 

The stores being in depot at Chattanooga, Sherman 
sent out, about the latter part of April, a cavalry expedi- 
under General Kilpatrick for the double purpose of recon- 
noitering the enemy's position, and also to mislead the 
rebels as to plans of movement. 

On the 1st of May, 1864, Sherman began his move- 
ment from Chattanooga, and by the 5th his army was con- 
centrated at Ringgold for a general advance. On the 7th 
the advance occupied Tunnel Hill, the remainder of the 
army moving by the flank. Next day a portion of the main 
army was in front of Rocky Faced Ridge threatening the 
rebel position. 

Meanwhile the right of the army was moving by the 
flank, and on May 9th, that wing passed through Snake 
Creek Gap after a sharp fight. The left and centre of the 
line were engaged in skirmishing; on the 10th the main 
army was in front of Buzzard Roost, while the right was 
within one mile of Rosacea, in a southerly direction. 



WILLIAM TECUMSEH SHERMAN. 73 

General Sherman had made a disposition to capture the 
rebel force at Resacca, but some mistake in the conception 
of the orders, or other cause, prevented the proper co- 
operation. 

Some slight skirmishing took place on May 11th, while 
the main army was making flank movements, and next day 
the greater part of Sherman's army had moved by the right 
flank in the direction of Snake Creek Gap. On May 13th, 
Sherman's army deployed in Sugar Valley, before Resacca, 
and cavalry reconnoissances were made, during which Gen- 
eral Kilpatrick was wounded in the foot. 

While this movement was being made, one corps of Sher- 
man's army was making a demonstration upon Dalton on 
the left to hold the garrison at that point ; but Sherman's 
flank movement compelled the evacuation of the place, and 
the rebels fell back to Resacca to reinforce the troops there 
threatened. 

On May 14th commenced the battle of Resacca. Skir- 
mishing commenced as early as daylight, and the battle con- 
tinued the whole day. The corps that had been threaten- 
ing Dalton the previous day joined Sherman on the left, 
and during the contest the rebels attempted to turn the 
Union right. Sherman, however, soon understood the de- 
sign of the enemy, and by transfering a corps from the 
left to the right, the rebel movement was completely frus- 
trated. The battle continued throughout the whole of the 
next day, and a portion of the army charged upon the 
rebel works, but was unable to hold them. A general ad- 
vance was then made along the whole line, and the first 
scries of entrenchments were carried and occupied. 

The rebels, finding that the next day would bring the 
capture of not only Resacca but the whole force, evacuated 



74 THE LIFE OP 

their works and fell back upon 4he Allatoona range of 
mountain?, with a splendid defensive position in their front. 
Part of Sherman's forces started in pursuit while the re- 
mainder occupied Resacca, opened up communications, and 
commenced transporting supplies to that place, which was 
garrisoned as a depot for future operations. 

On the 17th the army was again in motion, and the ad- 
vance the next morning occupied Kingston and Rome. 
With the capture of Rome General Sherman secured seven 
fine iron works, a quantity of machinery, and a large sup- 
ply of stores. Another portion of the army on the same 
day, May 18th, defeated the rebels at Adairsville, their 
main army meantime retreating across the Etowah River. 
A portion of the cavalry forces of Sherman's army captur- 
ed the bridge across the Etowah River, and held it against 
the rebel cavalry, who tried to drive them from the position. 

General Sherman's advance on the 10th, skirmished with 
the enemy from a point two miles beyond Kingston, to a 
point beyond Cassville, the rebels being on the retreat 
during the time. The enemy made a sortie after dark from 
Cassville, but were handsomely repulsed, and shortly after 
evacuated the place. Before daylight Cassville was occu- 
pied, 

During the next two days there was no serious engage- 
ment, but skirmishing took place along the line of advance. 
On the 22d of May, General Johnston established his rebel 
lines along the Allatoona mountains, and part of General 
Sherman's forces were in his front. The rebel headquar- 
ters at this time were at Marietta, several miles further 
souih. 

A portion of General Sherman's force3 on the same day, 
May 22d, entered the town of Etowah and destroyed the 



WILLIAM TECUM3EH SHERMAN. 75 

large government iron works of the rebels. These works 
had been for a very long time in operation, under the di- 
rection of General Gustavus W. Smith, and was employed in 
casting shot, shell and ordnance for the use of the rebel army. 

General Sherman's army on the 23d of May, com- 
menced a flank movement to the right of Aliatoona Range , 
and next day a cavalry fight took place at Taylorsville 
without any apparent result. 

On tho 24th of May, General Wheeler's rebel cavalry 
made a dash upon a position of General Sherman's army, 
and destroyed a part of the wagon trains. The Union 
leader had however so managed his mode of supply, that 
the loss of the train only caused a temporary disadvantage, 
and had no influence on the campaign. 

A slight contest took place, on May 25th, at Pumpkii- 
vine Creek, and the next day was employed in getting 
the army into position, preparatory to a severe battle, 
which took place on the 27th near New Hope Church and 
was fought between two large bodies of Generals Sherman 
and Johnstons forces. After three seperate attacks the 
rebel commander ordered his forces back to their entrench- 
ments, while the Union troops maintained their gronnd. * 

The next three days were employed in reorganizing the 
army after the recent battles ; and in making flank move- 
ments and dispositions for future operations. The rebels 
skirmished with the advance during the whole time. On 
the 31st the rebels made an attack in force upon Sher- 
man, but after an engagement of some two hours duration 
the enemy was driven, and Sherman's left reached the 
railroad near Marietta. 

[* In so small a volume as this, it is impossible to. do more than make a pass- 
ing remark on each of the many contests of the Georgia campaign— Author.] 



76 THE LIFE OP 

It was intended by General Sherman that an expedition 
should start from Memphis to engage the attention of the 
rebel Cavalry forces, and prevent them from interfering 
with the line of communication, and one started on the 
first of June for that purpose ; but owing to some mis- 
management of the commander failed entirely in its ob- 
ject. 

Meanwhile a portion of Sherman's army moved towards 
Marietta, and part of his cavalry captured Allatoona Pass. 
The main portion of the army was making a flank move- 
ment for the purpose of avoiding the rebel position at Ack- 
worth, and the rebels discovering the movement evacuated 
the place, abandoning their works &c. Sherman occupied 
Ackworth Station on June 6th. 

Another expedition was about this time got up by the 
rebels and placed under the cavalry raider, General J. 
H. Morgan, for offensive operations in Kentucky. Af- 
ter committing some severe depredations, the command 
was finally dispersed and a large portion of it captured. 

The rebel line was found to be, on June 9th, 1864, ex- 
tended from Kenesaw mountain to Lost mountain, and 
Sherman began making his dispositions accordingly. On 
June lith, General Sherman's headquarters was at Big 
Shanty, with his advance lints within five hundred yards 
of the enemy, and in position around Kenesaw mountain. 
Some slight skirmishing ensued during the next few days, 
and during one of the artillery contests the rebel Lieuten- 
ant General Polk was killed by a cannon ball. 

On June 15th, a skirmish arising from a change of front 
commenced in the morning, but gradually developed itself 
into a severe contest known as the battle of Pine moun- 
tain or Golgotha. During the movement a body of rebel 



WILLIAM TECUMSEH SHERMAN. 77 

troops, consisting of eighteen officers and four hundred en- 
listed men were captured by General Harrow. The con- 
test continued through the next day, during which four 
rebel officers and sixty men surrendered to General Mc- 
Pherson at Andersonville. 

The main army now commenced a steady advance, with 
heavy skirmishing along the line. The right, on the 18th, 
forced its way to a position threatening the enemy's left, 
while the centre advanced close to their entrenchments. 
Heavy skirmishing took place during the whole day and 
the rebels fell back duriug the night. The rear of the 
retreating rebel army was engaged during the principal 
part of the second day, and on the 20th a general engage- 
ment took place along the whole of Sherman's and John- 
ston's opposing lines without definite results. 

After certain demonstrations on the 21st, the battle of 
Culp's Farm broke out on the 22d of June. General 
Sherman's forces had been heavily engaged with Johns- 
ton's rebel army during the passage of a creek; but the 
main contest commenced at four o 'clock in the morning. 
The rebels resolutely advanced, but were driven back in 
disorder after a hard fight. An attempt was made by the 
rebels to flank the Union troops; but the movement was 
repulsed with great slaughter. 

Steadily Sherman's lines advanced amid very heavy 
skirmishing; the rebels by severe attacks trying vainly to 
prevent the onward movement. By changing front at dif- 
ferent periods, the Union leader was enabled to present a 
strong force to the rebels at all points, and flanking oper- 
ations were constant. On the 27th of June, a general as- 
sault was ordered upon Kenesaw mountain in the front; 
but was repulsed with great slaughter. The main object 



78 THE LIFE OP 

of the assault was to cover the flank movements and to en- 
gage the enemy's attention. For the next two days these 
movements continued, until the rebels found that by re- 
maining on the mountain they would certainly be invested 
and captured, whereupon the position was evacuated, and 
they fell back to the line of the Chattahoochee River in 
order to protect the position at Marietta. 

It will thus be seen that notwithstanding all the rebel 
defensive strategy the onward march of Sherinan could 
not be prevented and was only, in reality, faintly resisted, 
notwithstanding the rebels put forth all their strength. 

The following incident is told of Sherman during this 
part of the campaign : On one occasion while a regiment 
was moving by Sherman's headquarters — a tent, fly and a 
fence corner, near Kcnesaw Mountains — one of the sol- 
diers observed a Major-General lying asleep by the road- 
side. He spoke very loudly to his comrades, saving: 

" There's the way we arc commanded — officered by 
Major-Generals who get drunk and lie in fence corners.'' 

Sherman (it was him) heard the remark, and sprang to 
his feet. 

" Not drunk, boys," he said, quietly, " but I've been up 
all night, and I'm very tired and sleepy." 

He got on his horse, and, followed by his staff, rode 
away. 

Such is the stuff of which the commander of the Armies of 
the Southwest is made. 

The next day was employed in changing front, and on 
July Cd, one wing of Sherman's army struck the Chatta- 
hoochee. At daylight on the 3d, a garrison occupied 
Kcnesaw mountain, and at half-past eight in the morning 
the troops entered Marietta ; the whole army advancing 



WILLIAM TECUMSEH SHERMAN. 79 

towards the river. During these three days* operations 
General Sherman captured over two thousand prisoners. 

On the anniversary of the day of National Independ- 
ence the position of the armies were as follows : 

The Union line extended from the mouth of the Nick- 
ajack Creek across the railroad to Rottenwood Creek, 
both streams emptying into the Chattahoochee River. 
The rebels held the positions between the Union troops 
and the river. 

The next day the rebels began their retreat across the 
Chattahoochee River, and on the night of the 6th of July 
were in position on the opposite side to prevent Sherman 
from crossing the stream. That officer made a feint to 
cross the stream in the rebel front, and also a heavy de- 
monstration on the rebel works with artillery, as if to 
cover the movement of his infantry ; but the real crossing- 
was made some distance off on the flanks. Finding this 
to be the case the rebel army on July 8th, fell back to 
Atlanta. 

Meanwhile a special cavalry expedition was organized 
to start from Decatur under General Rosseau, and on 
the 10th of July started on the raid. During the twelve 
days he was absent he destroyed a large amount of move- 
able property and buildings used for military purposes, 
broke the Montgomery, West Point and Atlantic Rail- 
roads, and arrived at Marietta on the 2 2d. 

In the meantime Sherman began changing front on his 
line, to get into a proper position preparatory to a gen- 
eral advance upon Atlanta. On July 17th, the army 
reached within five miles of Atlanta with its left resting 
on Decatur, Ga. 



80 THE LIFE OP 

On that same day July 17th, the rebel General Joseph 
E. Johnston was relieved of command and General Hood 
appointed in his stead. Thi3 rebel leader commenced a 
new policy of campaigning, and instead of falling back 
before Sherman's forces, as Johnston had been compelled 
to do, determined to attack him in force. On July 20 th 
the rebel army moved out from Atlanta and attacked the 
left wing of Sherman's army at Decatur. The assault 
was made with great vigor and desperation ; but was met 
with a bloody repulse, and four thousand wounded and 
prisoners. The Union troops held the field, and next day 
the rebels were driven into their works at Atlanta with 
but small loss. 

On July 22d, part of Sherman's forces occupied a position 
within the corporation limits of Atlanta. During the day, 
the rebels again attacked the Union lines, and a severe 
battle was the result. During the contest the enemy flung 
his troops with great desperation upon Sherman's works, 
and the strife resulted in severe loss to the rebels. 

During the day, however, the Union General McPher- 
sonwas killed, and as he had been the principal adviser to 
General Sherman, as well as being his ablest general, his 
loss was greatly felt not only in the army but throughout 
the country. 

Another change of front was made by General Sher- 
man, and the troops on his extreme left was transferred to 
his extreme right. During the movement the troops 
were attacked while on the march ; but so well did the 
men change their flank to the front, that after a day's 
hard fighting the rebels had to retire and leave the field 
in the hands of the very men who had so long fought* 
under General Sherman as division, corps, and Army com- 



WILLIAM TECUMSEH SHERMAN. 81 

mander and now as General-in-chief of the " Armie3 of 
the South West." 

Cavalry parties were next sent off, in all directions, de- 
stroying communications with Atlanta ; meanwhile Sherman 
extended his right flank to a point facing East Point, and 
even going below it. Demonstrations were made at differ- 
ent times upon the enemy's works, and occasionally severe 
assaults would take place at different parts of the line. 
Batteries were planted and the city was shelled at differ- 
ent times giving the enemy but little rest. 

About the middle of August, the rebel General sent a 
large cavalry expedition to interfere with Sherman's com- 
munications, and to attack his depots. As this was the 
movement Sherman was most anxious the enemy should 
make, he ordered certain outside forces to attend to the 
cavalry raiders, while he attended to the main object of 
the campaign. 

Sherman organized a counter raiding Cavalry party 
under General Kilpatrick, which force started on its ex- 
pedition on August 19th. It first pushed on to Fairburn 
on the West Point Railroad where it met the enemy and 
drove him from the ground ; it next crossed Flint River, 
pushed on to Jonesboro, and destroyed the place, and 
rested for the night near Lovejoy's. About three miles of 
the Macon Railraod and a train of loaded cars were de- 
stroyed during the first day. The next morning the 
rebels attempted to surround this Cavalry party ; but the 
gallant troopers cut their way through the enemy's ranks, 
and pushed onward. They crossed the Cotton River on 
the morning of the 21st, and reached Lithonia on the 
Georgia Railroad, east of Atlanta, in the evening. After 



82 THE LIFE OP 

resting for the night the troops next morning joined the 
main army. 

General Ki I pa trick having made his report Sherman de- 
cided as to his course of action. 

The rebel leader, finding by the facility with which Kil- 
patrick had destroyed Jonesboro' that he was weak at 
that point, at once despatched part of his army to fortify 
and hold that place, thus preserving a line of communica- 
tion with the South. The movement was fatal as it divided 
the rebel strength. 

On the 25th of August, pursuant to a plan, of which the 
War Department had been fully advised, Sherman left the 
Twentieth Corps at the Chattahoochee bridge, and with 
the balance of the army drew off from the seige, and using 
some considerable artifice to mislead the enemy, moved 
rapidly south, and reaching the West Point railroad, near 
Fairborn, on the 27th broke up twelve miles of it. When 
moving east, his right approached the Macon railroad, near 
Jonesboro', and his left near Rough and Ready. The en- 
emy attacked the right wing of the Army of the Tennessce } 
and was completely beaten. 

On the 31st, and during the combat, Sherman pushed 
the left of the centre rapidly to the railroad above, be- 
tween Rough and Ready and Jonesboro'. On the 1st of 
September, he broke up about eight miles of the Macon 
road, and turned on the enemy at Jonesboro', assaulted 
him and his lines, and carried them, capturing Brigadier- 
General Gormon and about two thousand prisoners, with 
eight guns and much plunder. Night alone prevented the 
capturing of all Hardee's corps, which escaped south that 
night. 



WILLIAM TECUMSEH SHERMAN. 83 

On the night of September 1st, the rebel General Hood 
in Atlanta, finding all his railrords broken and in Sher- 
man's possession, blew up his ammunition, seven locomotives, 
and eighty cars, and evacuated Atlanta, which on the next 
day, September 2d, was occupied by the corps left for that 
purpose, Major- General Slocum commanding. Sherman 
following the retreating rebel army to near Lovejoy's sta- 
tion, thirty miles south of Atlanta, where finding him 
strongly entrenched, he concluded it would not " pay " to 
assault, as the great object of the campaign had been gain- 
ed, viz: — Atlanta. Accordingly the army gradually and 
leisurely returned to Atlanta, and encamped eight miles 
south of the city. 

The result of this quick and well executed movement was 
twenty-seven guns and over three thousand rebel prison- 
ers. Sherman's troops buried over four hundred rebel 
dead, and left as many more wounded. They could not be 
removed. 

The rebels lost, besides the important city of Atlanta, 
and stores, at least five hundred dead, two thousand five 
hundred wounded and three thousand prisoners ; whereas 
Sherman's aggregate loss during this last movement was 
not over one thousand five hundred. 

Before General Sherman started on this last and success- 
ful movement, the President appointed him a Major-Gencral 
in the regular army in the place of General Fremont, re- 
signed. When notified of this appointment, General Sher- 
man requested the President to withhold the honor until 
the end of the Atlanta campaign, and then see whether he 
was worthy of the rank. President Lincoln replied that 
he was fully convinced that success must result from the 



84 THE LIFE OF 

plans he had laid down for his operations, and insisted up- 
on conferring the rank upon him immediately. 

Under such circumstances, Sherman could not refuse the 
appointment which invested him with a rank second only 
in grade to the General-in-Chief, Lieutenant- General 
Grant. 

General Sherman, as soon as he occupied Atlanta, began 
opening communications with Chattanooga and the North 5 
fortifying the position, removing all non-combatants either 
to the North or South, as they might prefer, and establish- 
ing at that place another valuable depot of supplies. 

Some idea of the work Sharman had to perform in re- 
ducing Atlanta, and the way the citizens protected them- 
selves during the bombardment, may be gathered from the 
following remarks of an eye witness within the city at the 
time of the siege, who thus speaks of the city defences: — 

" The trenches, as they are technically and familiarly 
dubbed, are impregnable. It might be possible for a heavy 
massed column to penetrate them, but not without immense 
loss, and then not to be held. The works, which were ad- 
mirably located at first, have been materially strengthen- 
ed, and the assaults of the enemy have only developed our 
most commanding positions, and demonstrated where the 
engineer's skill and the miner's labor could be employed 
to the best advantage. 

"In front of the great circular line of intrenchments for 
many rods the fields are broken and irregular, dotted with 
stumps, and strewn with a complete tangle of tree tops 
and branches forming a barrier against approach. In 
front of the batteries, blind pitfalls, miniature stockades, 
and palisades and chevaus-de-friese work in all directions 
make a network out of whose entanglement a wild fox 



WILLIAM TECUMSEH SHERMAN. 85 

would barely escape. By the time a charging line could 
pass these barriers under a tornado of grape-shot, shell 
and Minie, the line would be so broken and reduced as to 
be totally ineffective. 

"The works are almost invulnerable, and every day 
adds something to their strength, and the soil is unfavora- 
ble to mining operations." 

The same writer also thus describes the " bomb-proof,'» 
in which the inhabitants took refuge during the bombard- 
ment of that city :- - 

" These are excavations in the soil and roofed with heavy 
logs, over which is heaped the loose earth to the height of 
a young Ararat. These little mounds may be seen all 
over the city. The garden to almost every house Which 
does not boast a cellar is now supplied with its artificial 
6 bomb-proof.' They are perfectly secure against the metal 
storm, and many of them are quite comfortably furnished 
with beds and chairs and other furniture. Women and 
children are huddled together in them lor hours at a time, 
and when the city is furiously shelled at night, the whole 
community may be said to be under ground. Especially 
is this the case when the moon is unusually bright and the 
approach of the shells cannot be marked by their fiery 
trail." 

Such descriptions show plainly that Atlanta could not 
have been taken in any other way than by strategy, and 
Sherman having secured it proved he was master of that 
as well as the other arts of war. 



86 THE LIFE OF 

CHAPTER XII. 

Sherman's fall campaign of 1864. 

Occupation of Atlanta in force — Hood's flanking Operations — What he 
did and what he Gained — Sherman in Pursuit — Hood's Escape — Sherman 
changes his plan of Campaign — His emphatic Adieu, 8fc. 

General Sherman, as before stated, occupied Atlanta in 
force on Sept. 2d, 1864. He was hardly well located in 
the " Gate City " before he began to plan his fall cam- 
paign. It was generally understood that his intention was 
to move against Columbus, Ga., and open the Chattahoo- 
chee river from that point to the Gulf of Mexico. The oc- 
cupation of this city and possession of this river would 
practically sever the country west of the river from com- 
munication with the eastern part of the confederacy. By 
the river he could draw his supplies from the Gulf, and thus 
establish a base from which to operate against Mobile or 
Macon. The distance of Atlanta from the supply depots 
of his army precluded the idea of depending upon it as a 
base, and, with a view to further movements into the in- 
terior, a new base of operations became indispensable. 

The rebel General Hood, about September 24th, sud- 
denly transferred his army by a flank movement from Love- 
joy's station on the Macon railroad, to near Newnan, on the 
West Point road. It was then supposed that Hood had 
divined the purpose of Sherman and was preparing to op- 
pose the execution of the plan. His first movement at- 
tracted, therefore but little attention. 
i The incautious language, however, of Jeff. Davis at Ma- 
con, first led the country to suppose that this movement 



WILLIAM TECUMSEH SHERMAN. 87 

was preliminary to something more extensive, and General 
Sherman's suspicions also were apparently aroused by it ; 
for, about this time, he began sending his spare forces to 
the rear, under General Thomas, and distributing strong 
detachments, under other commanders, at different points 
immediately in the rear of Atlanta. 

General Sherman also ordered frequent reconnoissances 
of the enemy in his position near Newnan, and his cavalry 
reported, on September 27th, further movements of Hood 
towards the Chattahoochee. 

On October 1st, responsible officers at the head of a 
large force made a reconnoissancc towards Newnan and 
discovered that the enemy had crossed the Chattahoochee 
river on September 29th and 30th, and had concentrated 
in the vicinity of Powder Springs, Ga. On the 3d of Oc- 
tober, General Sherman with the bulk of his army, moved 
in pursuit, vowing his intention to destroy Hood before be- 
ginning his movement against- Columbus. 

It will thus appear that Hood had the start fairly, and 
his forces struck the railroad north of Kcnesaw Mountain 
on October 4th. On the 5th General S. G. French, com- 
manding the advance division of Stewart's corps, made an 
assault upon Allatoona and was repulsed with heavy loss. 

General Sherman was at this time at Kenesaw mountain, 
from the summit of which he signalled to the commander 
at Allatoona, over the heads of Hood's men, to hold out 
until he relieved him. He pressed Hood's rear so heavily 
that the rebels, finding the Union position in their front 
too strong to be taken by assault, moved around the gap, 
and crossed the Etowah and Oostonaula rivers, making 
his appearance, with the greater part of his army, in front 
of Daitonon October 12th. The rebel General Hood im- 



88 THE LIFE OP 

mediately invested Dalton with one of bis corps, while the 
two others were engaged in tearing up the railroad and 
in obstructing Snake Creek Gap. The Colonel in com- 
mand at Dalton at once, and somewhat disgracefully, sur- 
rendered the former on Hood's demand. 

After obstructing Snake Creek Gap as much as possi- 
ble, in order to delay Sherman, who continued to press 
him, Hood moved west, passing through the gap of Pigeon 
mountain, and entered Lafayette on the 15th of October. 
He had now advanced as far north as it was possible to 
do without fighting, and a battle appeared to be imminent 
in the vicinity of the old battle field of Chickamauga. 

Hood, however, did not appear to be particularly anxious 
for a regular field engagement, for he had already tested 
the fighting qualities of Sherman's men ; therefore, after 
holding the gaps of Pigeon Mountain as long as possible, 
he suddenly moved south from Lafayette to Gadsden, Ala- 
bama, closely followed as far as Gaylesville by General 
Sherman. This movement was looked upon as a retreat 
and as the end of the great raid of which Hood, Davis, 
and Beauregard had promised and boasted so much. 

.But it soon became apparent that Hood was not yet at 
the end of his rope, that the campaign was only about to 
begin in earnest. At Gadsden, Hood halted and in- 
trenched his position, taking possession of the Gap of 
Mill's Creek, in Lookout Mountain, at that point, and pre- 
senting a strong front to Sherman. 

On October 23d Hood moved from Gadsden, through 
Lookout Mountain, towards Gunters landing and Deca- 
tur, on the Tennessee river, near the last of which places 
he formed a junction with General Dick Taylor's army, 
another portion of the rebel forces which had meantime 



WILLIAM TECUMSEH SHERMAN. 89 

quietly moved up the Mobile and Ohio railroad from East- 
ern Louisiana to Corinth and thence to Tuscumbia, the 
new base of supplies. 

The united rebel forces were now under the direction 
of General Beauregard, who thus placed himself far in 
General Sherman's rear before that officer could take 
steps to transfer his army to the new front of the rebels on 
the Tennessee. Hood's advance had probably reached the 
Tennessee before General Sherman positively knew tkat 
he had abandoned Gadsden, although he doubtless sus- 
pected, for, on October 25th, he tried the gap and found 
it abandoned by Hood. It was impossible to transfer his 
entire army to Hood's front in time to meet him and thus 
hold his communications intact. The position demanded 
resolution and action ; and Sherman was not slow either 
to resolve and act. 

"Let him go North," he exclaimed to his council; "our 
business is down South." 

General Sherman represented to his officers that the sit- 
uation of affairs justified him in considering his column an 
independent one, without a foe to confront. There was a 
large force in Tennessee which in numbers more than 
equalled Beauregard's troops, while he remained with the 
flower of his army — with the corps that stood at Chicka- 
mauga with Thomas and the corps of Grants old army 
that besieged Vicksburg and relieved Chattanooga, lying 
in what Governor Brown calls the " heart and railroad 
centre of the South," with only the Georgia militia — 
the mere shadow of an army — to oppose him. He deter- 
mined at this important juncture to resume his original 
intention, and, ignoring the very existence of Hood, carry 
out his offensive campaign from Atlanta. He determined 



90 THE LIFE OP 

to follow Hood no longer, but bade him " speed " on his 
journey North. 

"If he will go to the river," he said, "I will give him 
his rations," but failed to intimate that he considered them 
rations to prisoners. 

The resolutions were promptly formed and the prelimi- 
nary movements as rapidly executed. By November 1st 
the Army of the Tennecssee had left Rome and was en 
route to Atlanta. On November 4th his operating force 
had been concentrated at the last named city, and rapid 
preparations were made to begin the march. Sherman 
felt in the highest spirits, and telegraphed his intentions in 
the following remarkable words: — 

" Hood has crossed the Tcnneessce. Thomas will take 
care of him and Nashville, while Schofield will not let him 
into Chattanooga or Knoxville. Georgia and South Car- 
olina are at my mercy and I shall strike. Do not be anx- 
ious about me. I am all right." 

These were Sherman's words as he started off on his 
campaign, which for some time was a complete mystery to 
the people both north and south. 

The rebels who had been waiting over the border to take 
their own again, as soon as Sherman's men were gone, en- 
tered Atlanta on November 10th, with a grand flourish of 
trumpets. Their march was along the Decatur road to the 
Howard House, about three miles from the City Hall, 
when they were halted by Union pickets, who retired to 
the reserve. The enemy planted a section of six pounders 
and threw eight shells at the main Union lines; but before 
it got fairly in position to punish them, the enemy limber- 
ed up and vanished as suddenly as they appeared. Ten 
minutes later the balance of the six-pounder battery, sup- 



WILLIAM TECUMSEH SHERMAN. 91 

ported by a long line of cavalry, appeared on the Jones- 
boro and Macon road, and took up position within thirty 
rods of the Union main line, after driving in the pickets. 
Then came the advance, the unexpected meeting with a 
strong line of Yankees, a rapid fire from a couple of heavy 
pieces in one of the impregnable forts, and a hurried, un- 
dignified "get back" by rebel cavalry, artillery and all. 
The whole affair lasted not more than half an hour, yet the 
filing was quite brisk, and excited no little apprehension 
in the minds of late risers. The enemy left three dead, 
one mortally wounded, and one beardless youth a prisoner. 

On the afternoon of November 12th the city of Atlanta 
having been destroyed was finally evacuated. It had 
been rendered entirely useless for military purposes to the 
enemy, and by the movement of Sherman was of but little 
strategic value to him. 

Atlanta was abandoned and everything between that 
point and Chattanooga, all property of value being remov- 
ed to the latter place, including the iron of the railroad, 
thus making Chattanooga the outpost of our armies. The 
local command of the Division of the Mississippi was placed 
in the hands of General Thomas, with an army sufficient to 
cope with Hood or all the forces he and Beauregard could 
bring into the field. General Sherman's independent and 
separate command consisted of a force of veterans large 
enough to furnish three columns of sufficient strength to 
march through the cotton States in any direction. His 
outfit was of the simplest kind, and he took sixty days' 
rations, intending to live partially off the enemy's country. 
Officers and men were allowed to take no baggage but 
such as could be carried on pack mules. No tents of any 
kind were to be taken except sufficient for the writing of 



92 THE LIFE OF 

the Adjutant General, Cornmissionary and Quartermaster 
Departments. Officers and men were limited to their 
overcoats, blankets, &c. y for protection. Even General 
Sherman in this respect fared with his humblest soldier. 
In fact the army became a body of light troops going on a 
grand raid. Each man was supplied with two pairs of 
shoes, and every preparation was made for a long march. 



CHAPTER XIII. 

THE MARCH THROUGH GEORGIA. 

Sherman's letter to Captain Pennoek — The line of march — Sherman's 
order — Stead// movement in two columns with cavalry advance and flankers 
— Jonrshoro, Macon and MitledgevilU reached — Millen — Approaching Sa- 
vannah— Death of his son, Src. 

Sherman was determined when lie started from northern 
Georgia to reach the Atlantic Ocean, and he calculated 
the operation would take him about forty days, allowing 
for all serious opposition. He knew the rebellion to be a 
shell, that once penetrated would be found hollow and 
empty ; but still he supposed there would be some amount 
of resistance offered to his march. That such was his 
opinion may be gathered from the following letter written 
before he started, to his friend Captain Pennoek : — 

Kingston, Ga., 9 P.M., Nov. 3d, 18G4, 
Capt. Penrwck U. S. N. 9 Mound City : 

In a [qw days I will be off for salt water, and hope to 
meet my old friend l>. D. Porter again. Will you be kind 
enough to write him and tell him to look out for me about 
Christmas from Hilton Head to Savannah ? 

W. T. SHERMAN, Major-Gen. 



WILLIAM TECUMSEH SHERMAN. 93 

While at Kingston, Sherman issued onNovembcr 9th his 
order for the march, in which he threatened the greatest 
severity upon any of his command that should be found 
guilty of straggling or plundering without proper authori- 
ty. The army was, however, to forage liberally on the 
country during the march ; but the foraging parties were 
to be under proper officers and strict military discipline. 
In the order, Sherman, however, stated that, « In districts 
and neighborhoods where the army is unmolested no de- 
struction of mills, houses, cotton gins, &c, should be per- 
mitted ; but should guerrillas or bushwhackers molest the 
march, or should the inhabitants burn bridges, obstruct 
roads or otherwise manifest local hostility, then army 
corps commanders should order and enforce a devastation 
more or less relentless, accordiug to the measure of each 
hostility." Horses, mules and wagons were to be appro- 
priated freely and without limit. The soldiers were or- 
dered to refrain from abusive or threatening language 
while executing their work. In the operations, negroes 
were to be taken along when found able bodied and ser- 
viceable, but not otherwise ; as such unavailable acces- 
sions would be injurious to the army by causing a diminu- 
tion of the supplies. A pioneer column of negroes was to 
be formed, and accompany the advance guard for the 
purpose of repairing roads, &c., and a full and complete 
pontoon train was to be attached to each wing. 

Thus equipped, the army started for its general move- 
ment through Georgia ; an expedition as remarkable for 
its daring as it was for its absence of all military prece- 
dence. 

Some days for final preparation were required after 
reaching Atlanta, before the concentrated forces were 



94 THE LIFE OP 

ready to evaucate that city, and it was not until Novem- 
ber 10th that the march began in earnest. While Atlan- 
ta was yet in flames, the two wings of the army began to 
move simultaneously — the right under General Howard, 
and consisting of two corps, moving directly south, and 
the left under General Slocum, also consisting of two 
corps, moving due east from that city. 

General Howard's wing with a large cavalry force in 
advance, moved through Eastposnt, and at Rough and 
Ready encountered a cavalry force under General Iverson, 
and a brisk but brief engagement followed, in which the 
rebels were driven. The rebel cavalry commander could 
not hope with his small force to do more than delay the 
advance of the Union troops, as the main rebel army under 
General Hood was engaged in an invasion of the State of 
Tennessee, and could not be brought to his assistance. 
As it was, he did very little in the way of delaying the 
right wing, for Howard's column accomplished the speci- 
fied distance set down in the general orders for a day's 
march — viz., fifteen miles. It encamped that night in 
Joncsboro. 

The left wing under General Slocum moved out to De- 
catur, where the two corps divided, one going direct by 
the Covington road, parallel with the Georgia railroad — 
a line of travel running from Atlanta to Augusta — while 
the other moved north of the railroad by way of Rock- 
bridge. The two corps again concentrated at Covington. 

Next morning, November 17th, the right wing advanced 
upon Jonesboro, and later in the day upon McDonough, 
which place was occupied by the Union cavalry after 
driving out Wheeler's rebel cavalry and Cobb's militia. 
While in Jonesboro the troops destroyed the railroad 



WILLIAM TECUMSEH SHERMAN. 95 

buildings, and the cavalry burnt the court house and other 
public buildings at McDonough. 

Meanwhile Slocum's column on the left pushed eastward 
from Covington after destroying such buildings in the 
town as could be made useful by the enemy. The cavalry 
advance pressed onward as far as Social Circle, a station 
on the Georgia railroad. 

On the 18th General Howard pushed forward his in- 
fantry column to Griffin on the Atlanta and Macon rail- 
road, and his cavalry having passed along from McDon- 
ough in a south easterly direction struck the same rail- 
road at Forsythe thereby cutting off all communications 
between Macon and Atlanta by rail — Forsythe being about 
twenty miles from the former place. The rebel forces 
then fell back to that city for the purpose of defendiug it 
to the last. 

The operation of the cavalry, besides cutting the rail- 
road, had the effect of misleading the rebels as to the act- 
ual intention of the right wing — they naturally supposing 
that it was Howard's intention to attack Macon by a di- 
rect movement upon it. That officer, however, changed 
the direction of his march, and instead of following the 
line of the railroad turned due, east his advance cavalry 
reaching Hillsboro. Monticello was also occupied, and 
everything of value to the rebel cause was destroyed at 
both places. The infantry column encamped on the night 
of the 18th at Indian Spring near Jackson. 

General Slocum with the left wing pushed on this day 
along the Georgia railroad, and encamped near Madison, 
a station of that line. Meeting with no material opposi- 
tion he still pushed onward the next day, November 19th 



96 THE LIFE OF 

his cavalry advance destroying the track, stations, &c, as 
it marched along. 

The right wing was occupied during the greater part of 
November 19th in bridging the Ocmulgee river, and on 
the 20th effected the passage of the stream. The column 
then moved upon Mllledgeville, the State capital of Geor- 
gia, and his advance entered that place after dark. 

The arrival of the " Yankee troops " caused some com- 
motion in the Georgian capital. The State legislature had 
been in session and had hastily been conducting business ; 
but when the troops entered the city they broke up their 
meeting and began to move very rapidly from the vicinity. 
During the next day the remainder of Howard's wing ar- 
rived at Milledgeville, and by that time every able-bodied 
man had left the capital in the care of the women. 

General Sherman made Milledgeville his headquarters 
for several days, in the meantime allowing his command 
to forage around the immediate country for several miles. 
Although freely taking of the stock and grain of the sur- 
rounding farmers, but little damage was done to property; 
and in the city itself, although a large body of troops 
were so near, not a single private dwelling was destroyed. 
Some few public buildings, including the Penitentiary, were 
more or less injured to prevent them from being made use 
of by the enemy, and the -railroad bridge across Fishing 
Creek was 'burned. 

Meanwhile the advance cavalry of Howard's wing be- 
gan operating along the Georgia railroad- the line run- 
ning from Macon to Savannah— and struck first at Gris- 
wold, a village and station north east of Macon. Here 
they captured a lumber train, which they destroyed, and 
broke up the track, cut the telegraph wire, and severed all 



WILLIAM TECUMSEH SHERMAN. 97 

communication between Macon and Savannah. At the 
former place the rebel forces had made strong efforts to 
defend the city against the Union army ; but as Sherman 
had other and more important objects in view he could 
not spare the time to attack Macon, and therefore passed 
it by, leaving it and the troops that held it far in his rear. 
Pushing on to Gordon the Union cavalry then met Wheel- 
er's rebel cavalry and engaged it. This was the first real 
effort of resistance offered by the enemy. 

General Slocum continued his march with part of his 
forces along the Georgia railroad, tearing up the track, 
and destroying the stations, &c, along the line of rout. 

Up to the 20th of November the movement had been 
made without any very serious opposition, and it appeared 
plainly that Georgia and South Carolina were really, as 
Sherman had said, at his mercy. 

By this time the rebel Generals Beauregard, Hardee 
and Dick Taylor ,had assembled at Macon, whither Gov- 
ernor Brown of Georgia had removed his capital. Great 
excitement also existed in that city and every man, even to 
the members of the Legislature, who had fled from Mil- 
ledgeville, were pressed into the ranks for the purpose of 
defending that city. 

In order to disguise his main movement, a feint assault 
was made on the defences of Macon on November 20 th; 
but after the capture of one of the works the Union army 
was withdrawn from the immediate attack of this place, 
although a show of such an intent was kept up for a few 
days longer. 

The advance of General Slocmn's army caused a great 
amount of excitement in the city of Augusta, and every 
one capable was placed under arms. As a number of re- 



98 THE LIFE OF 

constructionists lived in that city a cry of treachery was 
raised, and a strict surveillance was placed upon those per- 
sons. The President of the Senate, Hon. A. C. Wright, 
assumed command of all State Military Government east 
of the advancing forces of General Sherman, on the ground 
that Governor Brown, being in Macon, was cut off from 
exercising such control by the operations of the Union 
army. General Bragg also removed to that city from 
Wilmington, taking with him a portion of the military 
forces ; and a military order was issued for the concentra- 
tion of the local reserves of South Carolina and Georgia 
for a united general State defence. 

General Slocum's main army, after having destroyed 
the railroad stations at Buekhead and Greensboro' pushed 
on to the Oconee River, and part of it crossed that stream 
near the railroad leading to Augusta while a cavalry force 
pushed southward to Eatonton, there to cross the same 
water-course with the intention of attacking Sparta. 
Another portion joined General Howard's column at or 
near Milledgeville. 

Meanwhile General Kilpatrick's cavalry engaged the 
enemy at Oconee bridge of the Georgia Central. After a 
sharp fight he passed along the river and pushed towards 
Sandersville, where he again engaged the enemy in a sev- 
ere fight on November 25th. Sandersville is the seat of 
justice of Washington county, Georgia. It is situated 
twenty-two miles east of Milledgeville and the Oconee 
river, and five miles north of the Georgia Central (Macon 
and Savannah) Railroad. General Wayne, with his rebel 
forces retired to Davisboro' after burning Oconee bridge. 
The movement from Sandersville to Milledgeville doubt- 



WILLIAM TECUMSEH SHERMAN. 99 

less forced Wayne to retire, as the Union troops flanked 
Oconee bridge. 

A grand concentration of rebel Generals now began to 
assemble in the eastern part of Georgia, and energetic 
calls were made upon the people to rally and resist the 
advance of Sherman's columns, but apparently without 
much effect, as his troops still steadily marched towards 
the Gulf coast. 

The portion of General Slocum's command that had 
crossed the Oconee River near the Georgia (Atlanta and 
Augusta) Railroad, made steady progress along their line 
of march ; and on November 25th, were at Warrenton, 
where a slight resistance was offered them. Warrenton is 
the seat of justice of Warren county, Georgia. It is 
thirty-five miles northeast of Milledgevillc and forty 
southwest of Augusta. The presence of this force at 
Warrenton explained why Slocum had left the Georgia 
State Railroad at Madison for Etonton. Slocum only 
moved south to Etonton, far enough to get upon the main 
road leading east, and the passage of the Oconee was 
doubtless effected by him at a point due east of Etonton. 

The rebel cavalry were now better concentrated under 
the command of one General, and operated somewhat se- 
verely on the front, rear and flanks of the Union Army : 
inflicting damage and causing a number of cavalry skir- 
mishes, but no general engagement. They, however, only 
harassed the Union troops ; but did not effect much in de- 
laying the advance of the main army, which left Milledge- 
ville and its vicinity on November 25th, pushing on to 
and through Sandersville on the 27th. 

General Kilpatrick's cavalry next pushed on to Waynes- 
boro, a station of the Augusta and Millen railroad, and 



100 THE LTFE OF 

about midway between those cities. Here he was met by 
a force of the enemy on November 28th, and by dint of 
direct charges and flanking operations, succeeded in dis- 
lodging them and destroying the railroad connection be- 
tween those two places. Next day his troops crossed the 
Savannah River in that vicinity. 

The main army moved forward from Sanders ville to 
Louisville where it arrived on November 30th. The two 
wings of the army united at Louisville, Georgia, on the 
1st of December, and by nightfall on the 2d had passed 
through Millen. The Union prisoners at that point had 
been removed to Charleston, and none were rescued by 
our army. Leaving Millen and vicinity, our army pushed 
forward vigorously, engaging the enemy at different 
points, and meeting with slight resistance until Tuesday, 
December 6th, at station Two and a Half — variously 
known by that name, and as Greyton and Cuyton — the 
latter being the proper name. This station is on the 
Georgia Central Railroad, twenty-live miles from Savan- 
nah. The peninsula between the Savannah and Ogechee 
rivers at this point is not more than fifteen miles wide. 
Cuyton station was reached on the 6th, after a march of 
eighteen miles. It was reported by the Richmond Dis- 
patch that Sherman had moved from Millen, on the other 
side of Ogechee river ; but this doubtless rcfered to the 
Little Ogechee river, a branch of the principal stream, and 
the passage of which was disputed with all the strength 
which the Georgia militia defending Savannah was capa- 
ble. 

At the same time Kilpatrick's cavalry were making such 
demonstrations far in the rear as to induce the belief that 
Sherman was moving towards Augusta. The fight with 



WILLIAM TECUMSEH SHERMAN. 101 

Wheeler on December 5th took place over fifty miles in 
Sherman's rear, and the one at Walker's bridge, over 
Brier Creek, on the previous day, was still nearer to the 
fortified city of Augusta. 

By the 9th of December the advance of the main army 
had reached the Savannah canal, and General Howard 
detached Captain Duncan and two scouts to open up com- 
munication with General Foster and Admiral Dahlgren. 
Captain Duncan reached the fleet and General Foster by 
the 12th, having descended the Ogechee river in a small 
boat. He left the army on the evening of the 9th, at 
which time General Sherman's whole army was then with- 
in ten miles of Savannah, advancing to attack it. 

The following is a copy of the despatch brought by 
Captain Duncan : — 

Headquarters, Army of the Tennessee, 
Near Savannah Canal, Dec. 9, 1864. 
To the Commander of the United States Naval 
Forces in the Vicinity of Savannah, Ga.: — 

Sir — We have -met with perfect success thus far. The 
troops are in fine spirits and near by. 
Respectfully, 

O. O. HOWARD, Major General, 
Commanding Right Wing of the Army. 

Another despatch brought by Captain Duncan, directed 
to the signal officer of the fleet, from General Howard's 
chief signal officer, requested a good lookout to be kept 
for signals. 

General Bragg had been appointed to the command of 
all the rebel forces along the coast line ; but by the rapid 
movement of Genenal Sherman he had been left far be- . 
hind in the rear at Augusta, and cut off from all commu- ' 
nication with the forces defending Savannah. 



102 THE LIFE OF 

As General Sherman advanced towards the Gulf coast 
he began using his heavy artillery by day, and signal 
rockets by night in order to give information to the fleet 
and the co-operating columns of his steady and near ap- 
proach. These rockets were seen early in December, and 
a fii teen-gun Monitor vessel ascended the Savannah river 
and replied to his artillery signals by loud discharges from 
its immense mouth ; while from the fleet at Hilton Head 
and along the coast signal rockets were sent up every 
night to inform General Sherman that he was anxiously 
expected and constantly looked for. 

The march through Georgia was a complete success, 
very little opposition having being met with on the way, 
as by General Sherman's strategy it was impossible for 
the enemy to tell one day from another what routes were 
to be taken, or what places were likely to be threatened. 
The army lived the whole time off the country, thereby 
impoverishing it for the use of a rebel army, and making 
the active rebellious State of Georgia know the evil of 
war which it had heretofore escaped. General Sherman 
accumulated a considerable number of horses and cattle 
and was well supplied when it neared tide water. 

On Wednesday, December 14th, General Sherman car- 
ried Fort McAllister by storm. The garrison consisted 
of one hundred and fifty men. The Fort is on the 
Ogeechee River, fifteen miles southwest of Savannah, at 
the point where the river is crossed by the Savannah, Al- 
bany and Gulf Railroad, and about six miles from Ossabaw 
Sound. This capture enabled Sherman to communicate 
with the fleet. 

General Sherman was met by sad domestic news when 
he reached the ocean on his victorious march through 



WILLIAM TECUMSEH SHERMAN. 103 

Georgia. His youngest child, a fine boy about six months 
old, died during the first week in December at South 
Bend, Ind., at the residence of Speaker Colfax, which was 
then occupied by Mrs. Sherman and family for the winter, 
the General's eldest children attending the Catholic col- 
lege in the vicinity of that town, and Mrs. Sherman 
desiring to be near them. Many will remember a very 
touching letter written by the General on the death of 
his son, in October, 1863, and while he was in the field, so 
bravely fighting the enemies of his country, death robbed 
him of another of his home circle, and caused the old 
wound to bleed afresh. He will have the sympathies, in 
this new affliction, of all who honor him for his heroic 
patriotism. 



CHAPTER XIV. 



CO-OPERATING COLUMNS. 



General Thomas' 1 Strategy in Tennessee — General Canby on the Missis- 
sippi — General Foster's movements in South Carolina — Admiral Jjahl- 
gren's naval co-operation. 

As soon as it was discovered that General Hood's rebel 
army had broken loose from before the front of General 
Sherman, General Thomas was placed in command of all 
the forces in the southwest not immmccliately under the 
command of Sherman. With these troops he fell back 
gradually — as if driven by the weight of the forces' 
against him by Hood — until he had drawn Hood so far 
from the line of Sherman's movement as to render it im- 
possible for him to interfere with him in any way. 

As soon as General Thomas was apprised of the success 
of the expedition through Georgia he immediately turned 



104 THE LIFE OP 

upon the rebels who were threatening liiin with a winter's 
siege in the city of Nashville, and on the 15th of Decem- 
ber attacked Hood's army in his front. Thomas's line ad- 
vanced on the right five miles. The enemy were driven 
from the river, from their intrenchments, from the range of 
hills on which their left rested, and forced back upon his 
right and centre ; and the centre was pushed back from 
one to three miles, with the loss of sixteen guns, about fif- 
teen hundred prisoners, and his whole line of earth- 
works, except about a mile of his extreme right, where no 
serious attempt was made to dislodge him. Hood's whole 
army, except the cavalry and a small force near Murfrees- 
boro, were engaged. 

During the latter part of November, co-operative move^ 
ments were made by General Canby, from Vicksburg and 
Baton Rouge, for the purpose of cutting Hood's communi- 
cations with Mobile and assisting General Sherman in his 
operations. After an admirably executed flank movement 
on Jackson, on November 24th, the expedition started for 
the Big Black bridge on the Mississippi Central Railroad, 
which was reached on November 27th, and after a stubborn 
resistance captured. This cut Hood's army off from the 
large quantities of supplies and stores accumulated at 
Jackson, Miss., and made that railroad, which was his 
main reliance, unavailing to him for months. 

Besides this important bridge and trestlework, the fol- 
lowing property was completely destroyed : — Thirty miles 
of track including culverts ; the wagon bridge over the 
Big Black ; Vaughn, Pickett and Goodman stations, with 
all the railroad depots and buildings ; twenty-six hundred 
bales of cotton, two locomotives, four cars, four stage 
coaches, twenty barrels of salt and nearly two hundred 



WILLIAM TECUMSEH SHERMAN. 105 

thousand dollars' worth of stores at Vaughn's Station. 

Another co-operative united service movement was made 
by water from the North under General Butler and Ad- 
miral D. D. Porter. 

The main movement, however, for this purpose was 
made from the vicinity of Charleston Harbor and Port 
Royal, and was more in direct co-operation than any 
other of the expeditions. It was as follows : — 

When it was expected that General Sherman would be 
nearing the Gulf coast, Admiral Dahlgren, the commander 
of the South Atlantic Blockading Squadron, and General 
Foster, the commander of the Department of the South, 
began making important movements against the Charleston 
and Savannah Railroad to aid the march of General Sher- 
man, and distract the enemy's attention from his operations. 

On Wednesday. November 30th, the advance was made 
directly upon and towards the railroad above Grahams- 
ville. The assault upon the work which barred the pro- 
gress of the advancing columns was attended with very 
fair success. A brigade of sailors and marines from the 
fleet co-operated in this advance, and rendered good ser- 
vice with its boat howitzers as well as its musketry. 

On Sunday, December 4th, General Foster, with a few 
tugs and two or three hundred men, went into Wash 
branch, ascended nearly to Port Royal ferry, captured a 
small work of two or three light pieces, the guard run- 
ning away, evidently surprised. 

While the troops were thus engaged Admiral Dahlgren 
passed to the head of Broad river, and into the Coos- 
ahatchie, with the Pawnee and Sonoma, where a small 
work, with a couple of small guns, was placed so as to 
bar the passage. The stream here was too winding and 



106 THE LIFE OP 

narrow to get nearer than a couple of thousand yards, and 
the rebels, after firing a few shots, retired to the woods 
and left them to continue the assault unmolested. 

At the same time another column was pushed out by 
General Hatch from his right, and the Pontiac sent her 
boats up from Boyd's landing. The whole affair, however, 
was merely a rcconnoissancc, made to appear like a de 
monstration, for the purpose of misleading the rebels an 
dividing their forces. 

The firing was renewed the next day, while a recon 
noissance was made of another stream, the Tulifinny, 
going in another direction, and, with the Coosahatchie? 
forming a peninsula or island, over which the railroad passed 
by two bridges, at so great distance from each other, where 
the ground was very favorable for cutting the railroad. 

On Tuesday, the 6th inst., gunboats and transports 
moved very easily on Broad river, and reached the en- 
trance of Tulifinny about eight o'clock a. m., and in conse- 
quence of the low tide the force was obliged to land in 
boats. In the lead was a launch of the boat division, under 
Acting Master E. G. Furber. 

After landing, the sailors dragged the howitzsrs through 
the swampy ground, and hurried them forward with the 
marine battalion. The sailor infantry landed above with 
the army, and advanced with it. As they hurried on they 
heard sharp fighting and musketry in the advance, and 
hastened to reach the field just as the rebels had been 
driven from it with loss. Our sailor infantry fought 
well, and had thirteen or fifteen wounded out of one 
hundred and ten. 

As soon the howitzers came up one was placed in the 
road and scattered an attacking column, while the other 



WILLIAM TECUMSEH SHERMAN. 107 

piece shelled the woods to the left. The marines skir- 
mished through the woods, and there was more or less 
firing until night. The rebels had a battery on the left, 
and they played upon the naval forces down the cross 
roads, and another on the right of the same road. A 
regiment of infantry was sent by General Potter to the 
right, which destroyed a bridge and prevented the rebels 
flanking the gallant fellows. The rebels appeared to be 
in good force, and to receive continual reinforcements ; 
but the Union forces drove the enemy, and encamped 
on the field of battle. 

The next morning the firing was renewed by the enemy 
from the woods in front and on the right. The howit- 
zers shelled the woods to the right, and prevented the 
enemy from closing in that direction. Sharpshooters were 
in the trees in front, when the firing had ceased in a measure, 
and four pieces were withdrawn as a reserve to the rear, to 
occupy the position that was being intrenched. 



CHAPTER XIH. 

Sherman's personal appearance. 
General Sherman is a man with a frame of the class bet- 
ter understood by the term " wire,'* and as far as the 
toughness of his constitution is concerned, might be styled 
" steel wiry. He is tall and slim, and to a casual observ- 
er might be designated delicate, although he is in reality 
far from being so. He has a large and well formed head, 
which is covered with a good crop of straight hair, some- 
what sandy in its color, approaching to auburn. His eyes 
are of a hazel brown color, sharp and quick, and deeply 
set into his head. His face bears the evidence of anxious 
care and earnestness ; and he appears to be much older 
than he really is. 



108 THE LIFE OP WILLIAM TECUMSEH SHERMAN. 

General Sherman is far from luxurious in his tastes and 
habits. He is careless about his dress and his food, and 
entirly trusts to others in these matters. But in the con- 
cerns of his command and military position, he allows no 
one to do those duties which he considers should be attend- 
ed to by the commander. He prefers the report of his 
own eyes and ears to the written document of his best offi- 
cers ; and although he never refuses the councils of others, 
he follows his own plans if he feels convinced they are 
the best. He is well read in history and other solid 
studies, and he turns them to practical use whenever the 
opportunity serves. In conversation he is clear and com- 
prehensive ; and as a writer he is pointed and pertinent. 
His documents, letters and orders all bear witness to this 
last remark. 

When the duties of the field make it necessary, General 
Sherman is willing to share the same couch — the hard 
ground — with the commonest soldier in his command, to 
cover himself with the single soldier's blanket, and to 
partake of the ordinary ration. 

Being a keen observer and quick in his judgment of 
men and officers, he rarely makes a mistake in his selec- 
tions ; and when he is determined upon the fact, that an 
officer is not fitted for the position he occupies, he soon 
orders his removal, so that he endeavors to get the right 
men in the right place. When a man is really worthy, 
General Sherman is certain to find him out, and reward 
and promotion is sure to follow. 

As before stated, General Sherman is a married man, 
and a father. During October, 1863, he lost his little 
son William, a fine little blue-eyed boy, then about nine 
years of age, who died at Memphis, from a fever engen- 
dered in the camp, on the Big Black River, where he had 
been on a visit 4o44SL father m the field. The child's loss 
was much lamented^ although other children still remained 
to the General. 

THE END. 



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OLD ABE'S JOKES: 

FRESH FROM ABRAHAM'S BOSOM. 

( 'outprising all his issuers, except the u GreeubackH," to 
call in some of w r hich this Work will be issued. 



CONTENTS. 






Father Abraham's Boyhood — Pots and 
Kettles, Dutch Ovens, Frying Pans, 
.Esop's Fables, "Rail-Splitting, «fcc. 

An Englishman's Portrait of Old Abe. 

The President on Grant's New Sword. 

An American's Portrait of Lincoln. 

A Whole Nager. 

Old Abe consulting the Spirit. 

Too Cussed Dirty. 

Old Abe on Bayonets. 

Old Abe as a Mathematician. 

Lincoln & the Wooden-legged Amteur 

Old Abe and the Blasted Powder. 

Lincoln teaches the Soldiers how to 
Surrendor Arms. 

Abe's Curiosity. 

Lincoln Agreeably Disappointed. 

Lincoln ami the Secesh Lady. 

Old Abe's Story of New Jersey. 

Succoring a Contraband. 

Old Soldiers. 

Lincoln and Col. Weller. 

Mrs. Lincoln's Bonnet 

Honest Abe's Replies. 

Lincoln's Metallic BJng. 

The Presidential Hymn of Thanks. 

What Old Abe says of Tennessee. 

Old Abe a Coward. 

The President <fc the Patriotic Darkey. 

Abe's Affair of Honor. 

Abraham Advises the Sprigs, 

Lincoln v$. Water Cure. 

&c, &c, <fcc, <fec, kc. 



The Negro in a Hogshead. 
That what Skeered 'em so Bad. 
The President & the Wounded Rebels. 
A Pedlar made to eat his own Pies. 
Got the Itch. 

Old Abe occasionally browses around. 
Mr. Lincoln and the Nigger Barber 
Abe on the Compromise. 
Old Abe appoints a General. 
The President on the ' Mud." 
Lincoln on his Cabinet Helps. 
Lincoln's Advice. 
A Practical Joke. 
Old Abe's on his Tod. 
Pluck to the toe-nail. 
Lincoln and the Lost Apple. 
Old Abe on Temperance. 
Uncle Abe and the Judge. 
Mince Pies vs. Tracts. 
The Nigger and the Small Pox. 
Why Lincoln Did'nt Stop the War. 
Lincoln's Estimate of the " Honors." 
Abe's Long Legs. 
The President on Banks. 
Old Abe's Noble Saying. 
I Mean Old Abe. 

Abe and the Distance to the Capitol. 
T. R. Strong, but Coffee are Stronger. 
Abraham tells a Story. 
Why Lincoln Appointed Fremont 
Old Abe on the Congressmen. 
Where Abe said it had gone. 
Etc., Etc., Etc., Etc., Et«. 



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Sent by mail, postpaid, on receipt of 35 Cts. 

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